Sweden issues warning about deadly Marburg virus as 'dangerous to society'

By Leila Nezirevic

LONDON (AA) - The Swedish government on Friday issued a warning about the deadly Marburg virus, classifying it as "dangerous to society."

The Nordic country already considers the Marburg virus to be dangerous to the public, but it is now upgrading it to "dangerous to society," allowing authorities to take extraordinary measures to stop the spread of infection, such as cordoning off airports or train stations and isolating infected patients.

"This disease is very serious and although we do not see that there is a risk of infection spreading in Sweden at the moment, the government has today decided to classify it as dangerous to society. It gives us better tools to take extraordinary infection prevention measures, if necessary," said Minister of Social Affairs Jakob Forssmed in a press release.

Earlier this week, two people in Germany were suspected of being infected with the virus. However, this was later revealed to be a false alarm, as the cases tested negative, local authorities have said.

On Wednesday, German police closed two tracks at Hamburg’s central station while emergency staff evacuated a train from Frankfurt after two passengers, a couple, contacted doctors because they were worried that they had contracted a tropical disease in Rwanda.

Rwanda is currently experiencing an outbreak of the deadly and highly contagious Marburg virus, with 11 deaths and 36 confirmed cases since the outbreak began on Sept. 27, according to the country's health authorities.

Marburg belongs to the filovirus family, which includes Ebola, but unlike Ebola, there is no treatment or vaccine for Marburg. The virus disease is a highly contagious disease that causes hemorrhagic fever and has a fatality rate of up to 88%, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Initially, human infection with Marburg virus disease resulted from prolonged exposure to mines or caves inhabited by Rousettus bat colonies.

Once infected, Marburg can spread through human-to-human transmission via direct contact, such as through broken skin or mucous membranes, with infected people's blood, secretions, organs, or other bodily fluids, and with surfaces and materials contaminated with these fluids, the WHO said.