Marburg virus

Marburg virus disease, which produced 20 per cent mortality when it first occured during 1967 in Germany and Yugoslavia, recently appeared again in South Africa. The source of the first outbreak was monkeys shipped from Africa; the origin of the second episode is unclear. Because distribution of the virus in nature is unknown, its threat to man cannot be readily determined. Differential laboratory diagnoses of hemorrhagic fevers should be encouraged in order to learn more about the epidemiology of these diseases and to better assess the risks which their etiologic agents may pose for attending medical personnel.