CDC will start screening travelers from Rwanda to the US for Marburg virus

Amid an outbreak of Marburg virus in Rwanda, travelers coming into the United States who have been in Rwanda in the previous 21 days will be screened starting next week, the US Department of Health and Human Services announced Monday.

Amid an outbreak of Marburg virus in Rwanda, travelers coming into the United States who have been in Rwanda in the previous 21 days will be screened starting next week, the US Department of Health and Human Services announced Monday. There are no confirmed cases of Marburg virus disease – a rare but deadly hemorrhagic disease similar to Ebola – outside Rwanda, and officials have said that the current risk to the US is low.  However, HHS says the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will begin public health entry screening the week of October 14 in an effort to reduce the risk of the importation and spread of cases. The CDC is also issuing a Level 3 Travel Health Notice, recommending that people reconsider nonessential travel to Rwanda, and sending automated texts to air travelers arriving from Rwanda to share information and instructions. As of Monday, there have been 56 confirmed cases of Marburg in Rwanda, with 36 people in isolation and treatment, and 12 deaths, according to the Ministry of Health. Many of the cases are in health-care workers, the CDC says. Marburg is an orthomarburgvirus, a virus that naturally occurs in fruit bats. It’s in the same family as the Ebola virus. Marburg can spread from human to human when someone comes into contact with bodily fluids from a person who’s been infected. People can also get sick after handling a patient’s clothing or bedding. It is not an airborne virus like the coronavirus that causes Covid-19, so that makes it a little easier to control, experts say.