Marburg virus alert in Germany shuts train station

Medical student and companion undergo testing after showing signs of deadly virus from Rwanda that has killed 11 people since late September

An ambulance outside the main station in Hamburg after a traveller, fearing he had contracted the Marburg virus, was treated. Getty Images

Two passengers travelling on a train in Germany were isolated after showing symptoms of the deadly Marburg virus.

Police cordoned off the Hamburg railway station to minimise the risk of spreading the illness, and emergency workers in hazmat suits responded to the scene.

One of the passengers was a medical student who had been working in a Rwandan hospital treating patients with Marburg.

The highly contagious virus is mainly found in Africa, where an increase in cases has been reported in Rwanda. Official figures confirm 11 deaths and 36 identified cases since the outbreak was confirmed in late September, marking one of the largest outbreaks on record.

Upon their arrival on Wednesday, the student and their companion were isolated and taken to Eppendorf University Hospital, which specialises in tropical diseases, for testing.

The symptoms of Marburg include fever, cramps, bloody vomiting and diarrhoea. The virus has a fatality rate of up to 88 per cent depending on the strain and case management, according to the World Health Organisation.

Rwanda is set to begin vaccine and therapeutic clinical trials to treat the disease, the country's Health Minister Yvan Butera said on Thursday. The government has also limited the size of funerals for those who died from the disease to 50 people and limited the number of visitors to hospital patients. The WHO has said most of the patients are health workers, particularly those who have been working in intensive care units.

The medical student, travelling to Hamburg from Rwanda, informed authorities that he might have contracted a tropical disease, according to the local government. The results of the hospital tests on him and his companion are pending. Their luggage has been impounded.

Fire department spokesman Christian Wolter confirmed the student had been in contact with a Marburg patient in Rwanda, but said it was unclear if he had been affected. Federal police are gathering data from 200 passengers to consider their risk of exposure.

Marburg is part of the filovirus family that also includes Ebola, which has wreaked havoc in several previous outbreaks in Africa. The virus is spread by contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person. Rwanda has ruled out enforcing a lockdown to fight Marburg. Instead people have been urged to avoid body contact.

There are currently no vaccines or antiviral treatments, but potential treatments, including blood products, immune and drug therapies, as well as early candidate vaccines, are being evaluated.

The US has pledged to target $500 million in aid to the countries most affected by Marburg, a fast spreading subvariant of mpox. The money and vaccines will be distributed through bilateral agreements with governments, John Nkengasong, the US’s senior bureau official for global health security and diplomacy, said in South Africa’s capital, Pretoria, on Wednesday.

Mr Nkengasong blamed the spread of the disease and mpox to East African countries to increased travel and interaction with rural areas where few people had previously visited. He cited the example of the Ebola virus, discovered in 1976 in the Congo, outbreaks of which have become more frequent in recent years.

“A disease threat anywhere in the world is a threat everywhere in the world because of the movement of people,” Mr Nkengasong said. “We have said before that this will drive emergence of diseases and now we are seeing those emergences.”