A rare Marburg outbreak sparks a race to test vaccines and drugs

A rare Marburg outbreak sparks a race against time to test vaccines and drugs Finding out if Marburg vaccine candidates actually work in people requires an outbreak, and outbreaks are blessedly rare. But now there are cases in Equatorial Guinea. Helen Branswell STAT

A Marburg fever outbreak in Equatorial Guinea is galvanizing efforts to test drugs and vaccines for a virus that currently has none. But every day counts, warned experts who gathered virtually on Tuesday to try to chart a course for the work.

The outbreak is believed to have begun in early January, but the confirmation that the Marburg virus was responsible for the growing cluster of people sick with hemorrhagic-fever-like illness was only confirmed on Monday. To date, nine people have died; all were epidemiologically linked. Another 16 people with some symptoms are in quarantine.

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