No case of Marburg Virus Disease in Germany

In Hamburg, a suspected Marburg fever infection in a medical student who returned from Rwanda has not been confirmed, the Hamburg health authorities have announced in a press release. The Robert Koch Institute was in close contact with the authorities in Hamburg during the investigation. Irrespective of the specific suspected case, the RKI had already published a guide for doctors on what to do in the event of suspected infection with Marburg virus and reported on the outbreak in Rwanda and general information on the clinical picture in the current issue of the Epidemiological Bulletin.

If a dangerous communicable disease is suspected, it is primarily the responsibility of the local public health department to take measures to prevent the spread of the disease. Depending on the situation, the local health authority involves federal state health authorities, specialised centres and other experts. In such cases, the RKI is the point of contact for state authorities and international players such as the WHO and ECDC. The RKI prepares recommendations for the specialist public, offers special diagnostics and coordinates a network of competence and treatment centres of the federal states, thepermanent working group of competence and treatment centres for high consequence infectious diseases.