Excitement at the main train station: Medical student could travel with Marburg-Virus

Excitement at the main train station: Medical student could travel with Marburg-Virus

At the Hamburg Central Station, an incident caused great concern. A medical student who may be infected with the highly dangerous Marburg virus arrived in the Hanseatic city by train. In many cases, this virus can be fatal, which makes the situation particularly serious.

The student, in the mid-20s, had previously worked in a hospital in Rwanda, where Marburg virus patients are treated. After his flight to Frankfurt, he traveled to Hamburg with the ICE. During the trip, he informed the doctors in Hamburg about his concerns, possibly having a tropical illness. This led to immediate measures on the part of the authorities.

What we know:

• The health department immediately is isolated to the students and its accompanying person at the main station. This meant that the federal police locked two tracks and the fire brigade moved in with a special infection rescue vehicle. Both were then brought to the University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE).
• In the UKE, the two were brought into one area Diseases specializes. The public health service specialist and reaction group monitors the situation and ensures rapid diagnostics.
• The student showed flu-like symptoms and led Nausea, but he had no fever. The typical symptoms of the Marburg virus include high fever, muscle pain, abdominal cramps, diarrhea and even bloody vomiting.
• The contagion is usually made by direct contact with body fluids. The incubation period can vary between two and 21 days, which makes forensic tracking difficult.

What we do not know:

• There is still no clarity. As a rule, many diseases can be diagnosed within 24 hours. In the case of the student, however, a result is expected until Thursday.
• remains unclear. Up to 275 people could have sat on the train from Frankfurt to Hamburg. The contact details of these travelers were recorded as a precaution in order to be able to react quickly in the event of an event.
• At the moment, this could be necessary, this could depend on Change the result of the diagnostics. The contact tracking process remains a central element in risk assessment.
• The details as the student from Rwanda is and whether he had close contact with other people during this trip, are currently unknown.

The World Health Organization (WHO) points out that the mortality rate is between 24 and 88 percent in the event of previously outbreaks of the Marburg virus. The first known outbreak took place in Marburg in 1967, where 29 people were infected, seven of which died. This means that the virus has been named after the city. The situation remains tense, while the authorities continue to work on solutions and keep an eye on the possible spread of the virus.