Officials at a Denver hospital admitted over the weekend that they treated a case of deadly Marburg hemorrhagic fever last year. Marburg is related to the Ebola virus, made infamous in bestselling book The Hot Zone, and kills 80 percent of those who contract it within days after exposure. The man who was treated in Denver caught it while visiting a python cave in Uganda, and made a full recovery. Another tourist who visited the same cave died after returning home, and the cave has since been closed.
Because Marburg has such a short incubation period, it’s unlikely last year’s exposures could lead to an outbreak. Anyone exposed to the virus would most likely have gotten sick last year when the patient was treated.
