The deadly Marburg virus emerged in Tanzania and Equatorial Guinea this year and, while both outbreaks are over, the risk of further flare-ups remains.
Efforts are being made to develop a vaccine against the disease, which is notable for its high fatality ratio: three-quarters of the people in Tanzania with the disease died.
Having a vaccine would be "extremely important", according to Dr Daniela Manno, an assistant professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
"There are many things you can do," she said. "You can protect healthcare workers or frontline workers deployed in outbreak areas. Especially in tropical conditions, wearing full protective equipment is quite hard."
As well as safeguarding workers who are at the highest risk, a vaccine could be deployed in a "ring vaccination" approach, in which contacts of infected individuals, and people in close contact with these contacts, are immunised.
Mass vaccination would not be undertaken because the virus is not in widespread circulation and outbreaks tend to be sporadic.
"It would be something you would roll out very rapidly if and when someone did become infected," Ian Jones, professor of virology at the UK's University of Reading, said.
How does it impact the body?
People with Marbug suffer haemorrhagic fever, which involves bleeding that can, according to the US Centre for Disease Control, damage many of the body’s organ systems. The closely related Ebola virus also causes the fever.
The first recognised cases emerged in Europe 55 years ago as a result of infections linked to laboratories that held green monkeys brought in from Uganda.
Egyptian fruit bats can carry the virus and while they do not fall ill, they can pass the pathogen on to people, and cases have originated in caves and mines where the bats live.
The World Health Organisation reports that the virus passes from person to person if blood or other bodily fluids of an infected individual are in contact with another person’s mucous membranes (such as the lining of the mouth) or broken skin.
While deadly, outbreaks tend to be limited in scale because each person with the disease typically only infects one or two others, and there is a long time lag between cases.
However, in certain situations, such as when there has been conflict and health infrastructure is poor, outbreaks can be difficult to control and may, as has been the case in countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola, last for months or years.
The race for a vaccine
A handful of vaccines against Marburg have entered trials, all viral vector vaccines similar to the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine used against Covid-19.
These jabs use a harmless virus to deliver genetic material into recipients’ cells, where the genetic material codes for the production of glycoproteins (proteins with carbohydrates attached) like those in the Marburg virus. The immune response to these should be protective in the event of infection.
Testing Marburg vaccines is complicated by the fact that the virus is not in wide circulation.
Normally in a clinical trial, one group is given a vaccine and scientists look at whether these people are less likely to fall ill than members of another group left unvaccinated.
With Marburg, it would be unlikely that any recipients of either group would be exposed to the virus naturally and infecting people deliberately is not allowed.
Vaccine candidates can, however, be tested on people for their safety and to look at the immune response.
Dr Manno, who has carried out extensive research in Africa related to vaccination programmes for Ebola, was recently asked by The Lancet medical journal to comment on an article presenting the results of a trial of one of the Marburg vaccines. While this trial involved only 40 people, Dr Manno said the results were promising.
"I thought the vaccine had very good safety and immunogenicity," she said.
Vaccines have also been tested on primates, with some deliberately infected in "challenge" studies to determine if the jab offers protection.
By comparing the immune response in primates to the immune response in people, and then considering the results of challenge studies, scientists can decide if a vaccine is likely to protect people.
"You have to ask if the animal models are a good mimic of the situation in people," Prof Jones said.
"Sometimes the animal will not show the same disease because the virus doesn’t disseminate the same way in people. There’s a certain leap of faith to know the animal data will accurately translate to people."
When it was not possible to demonstrate protection in people, organisations such as the Food and Drug Administration in the US and the EU’s European Medicines Agency have been willing, Dr Manno said, to license vaccines on the basis of studies on human and animal immunogenicity and animal efficacy.
Even if vaccines are not licensed, she is confident that the emergency use of a vaccine would be considered in the event of another Marburg outbreak.
Vaccination programmes in parts of sub-Saharan Africa do, however, face practical challenges because of poor infrastructure and vaccine hesitancy, as highlighted in a paper published in the journal Diseases this year.
"Vaccine hesitancy occurs against a colonial backdrop of inequities in global health research, social-cultural complexities, poor community involvement and public distrust," the study's authors wrote.
"All of these factors undermine the confidence that is crucial for sustaining collective immunity in vaccine programmes."
Also, as Dr Manno put it, vaccination is "not a magic bullet" and is just one of multiple interventions needed to prevent the spread of outbreaks.
Other measures include early identification of cases and contact tracing, although this can be challenging in the regions affected by outbreaks. Community awareness of the disease and safe burials are also important.
"We’ve known for years that you can contain outbreaks in this way," Dr Manno said. "If they’re implemented properly, they work. With these diseases, any community engagement is very important."
Ensuring burials are safe is vital because traditional practices that involve cleaning and washing bodies can spread diseases such as Marburg or Ebola.
There are many hurdles to ensuring that everything is done to prevent diseases from spreading, including asking people to agree that relatives who are ill can be taken away to be treated.
"These diseases that affect close contacts and are often fatal are very tough," Dr Manno said. "It’s not easy. It could be your parents, your children, your partner.
"You need to call someone who comes to your house and takes them away and maybe that’s the last time you see them alive.
"It’s difficult to explain messaging on the risk of transmission in this kind of tragic situation and ensure outbreak control measures are followed."
The%20specs
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Islamophobia definition
A widely accepted definition was made by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims in 2019: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” It further defines it as “inciting hatred or violence against Muslims”.
Sholto Byrnes on Myanmar politics
French Touch
Carla Bruni
(Verve)
SPEC SHEET
Display: 6.8" edge quad-HD dynamic Amoled 2X, Infinity-O, 3088 x 1440, 500ppi, HDR10 , 120Hz
Processor: 4nm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1/Exynos 2200, 8-core
Memory: 8/12GB RAM
Storage: 128/256/512GB/1TB
Platform: Android 12
Main camera: quad 12MP ultra-wide f/2.2, 108MP wide f/1.8, 10MP telephoto f/4.9, 10MP telephoto 2.4; Space Zoom up to 100x, auto HDR, expert RAW
Video: 8K@24fps, 4K@60fps, full-HD@60fps, HD@30fps, super slo-mo@960fps
Front camera: 40MP f/2.2
Battery: 5000mAh, fast wireless charging 2.0 Wireless PowerShare
Connectivity: 5G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.2, NFC
I/O: USB-C
SIM: single nano, or nano and SIM, nano and nano, eSIM/nano and nano
Colours: burgundy, green, phantom black, phantom white, graphite, sky blue, red
Price: Dh4,699 for 128GB, Dh5,099 for 256GB, Dh5,499 for 512GB; 1TB unavailable in the UAE
The Voice of Hind Rajab
Starring: Saja Kilani, Clara Khoury, Motaz Malhees
Director: Kaouther Ben Hania
Rating: 4/5
England squad
Moeen Ali, James Anderson, Jofra Archer, Jonny Bairstow, Dominic Bess, James Bracey, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Zak Crawley, Sam Curran, Joe Denly, Ben Foakes, Lewis Gregory, Keaton Jennings, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Saqib Mahmood, Craig Overton, Jamie Overton, Matthew Parkinson, Ollie Pope, Ollie Robinson, Joe Root, Dom Sibley, Ben Stokes, Olly Stone, Amar Virdi, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
Where to buy art books in the UAE
There are a number of speciality art bookshops in the UAE.
In Dubai, The Lighthouse at Dubai Design District has a wonderfully curated selection of art and design books. Alserkal Avenue runs a pop-up shop at their A4 space, and host the art-book fair Fully Booked during Art Week in March. The Third Line, also in Alserkal Avenue, has a strong book-publishing arm and sells copies at its gallery. Kinokuniya, at Dubai Mall, has some good offerings within its broad selection, and you never know what you will find at the House of Prose in Jumeirah. Finally, all of Gulf Photo Plus’s photo books are available for sale at their show.
In Abu Dhabi, Louvre Abu Dhabi has a beautiful selection of catalogues and art books, and Magrudy’s – across the Emirates, but particularly at their NYU Abu Dhabi site – has a great selection in art, fiction and cultural theory.
In Sharjah, the Sharjah Art Museum sells catalogues and art books at its museum shop, and the Sharjah Art Foundation has a bookshop that offers reads on art, theory and cultural history.
Kanguva
Director: Siva
Stars: Suriya, Bobby Deol, Disha Patani, Yogi Babu, Redin Kingsley
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
The President's Cake
Director: Hasan Hadi
Starring: Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, Waheed Thabet Khreibat, Sajad Mohamad Qasem
Rating: 4/5
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%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EProcessor%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Apple%20M3%2C%208-core%20CPU%2C%20up%20to%2010-core%20CPU%2C%2016-core%20Neural%20Engine%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDisplay%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2013.6-inch%20Liquid%20Retina%2C%202560%20x%201664%2C%20224ppi%2C%20500%20nits%2C%20True%20Tone%2C%20wide%20colour%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EMemory%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%208%2F16%2F24GB%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStorage%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20256%2F512GB%20%2F%201%2F2TB%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EI%2FO%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Thunderbolt%203%2FUSB-4%20(2)%2C%203.5mm%20audio%2C%20Touch%20ID%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EConnectivity%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Wi-Fi%206E%2C%20Bluetooth%205.3%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EBattery%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2052.6Wh%20lithium-polymer%2C%20up%20to%2018%20hours%2C%20MagSafe%20charging%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECamera%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%201080p%20FaceTime%20HD%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EVideo%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Support%20for%20Apple%20ProRes%2C%20HDR%20with%20Dolby%20Vision%2C%20HDR10%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EAudio%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%204-speaker%20system%2C%20wide%20stereo%2C%20support%20for%20Dolby%20Atmos%2C%20Spatial%20Audio%20and%20dynamic%20head%20tracking%20(with%20AirPods)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EColours%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Midnight%2C%20silver%2C%20space%20grey%2C%20starlight%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EIn%20the%20box%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20MacBook%20Air%2C%2030W%2F35W%20dual-port%2F70w%20power%20adapter%2C%20USB-C-to-MagSafe%20cable%2C%202%20Apple%20stickers%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20From%20Dh4%2C599%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The Gandhi Murder
- 71 - Years since the death of MK Gandhi, also christened India's Father of the Nation
- 34 - Nationalities featured in the film The Gandhi Murder
- 7 - million dollars, the film's budget
How to watch Ireland v Pakistan in UAE
When: The one-off Test starts on Friday, May 11
What time: Each day’s play is scheduled to start at 2pm UAE time.
TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Wicked
Director: Jon M Chu
Stars: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey
Did you know?
Brunch has been around, is some form or another, for more than a century. The word was first mentioned in print in an 1895 edition of Hunter’s Weekly, after making the rounds among university students in Britain. The article, entitled Brunch: A Plea, argued the case for a later, more sociable weekend meal. “By eliminating the need to get up early on Sunday, brunch would make life brighter for Saturday night carousers. It would promote human happiness in other ways as well,” the piece read. “It is talk-compelling. It puts you in a good temper, it makes you satisfied with yourself and your fellow beings, it sweeps away the worries and cobwebs of the week.” More than 100 years later, author Guy Beringer’s words still ring true, especially in the UAE, where brunches are often used to mark special, sociable occasions.
Herc's Adventures
Developer: Big Ape Productions
Publisher: LucasArts
Console: PlayStation 1 & 5, Sega Saturn
Rating: 4/5
Where can I submit a sample?
Volunteers can now submit DNA samples at a number of centres across Abu Dhabi. The programme is open to all ages.
Collection centres in Abu Dhabi include:
- Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC)
- Biogenix Labs in Masdar City
- Al Towayya in Al Ain
- NMC Royal Hospital in Khalifa City
- Bareen International Hospital
- NMC Specialty Hospital, Al Ain
- NMC Royal Medical Centre - Abu Dhabi
- NMC Royal Women’s Hospital.
