Episode 215: Marburg Virus and Global EM

Lessons from Rwanda’s Marburg Virus Outbreak and Building Resilient Systems in Global EM.

Hosts:

Tsion Firew, MD

Brian Gilberti, MD

https://media.blubrry.com/coreem/content.blubrry.com/coreem/Marburg_Virus.mp3

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Tags: Global Health, Infectious Diseases

Show Notes

Context and the Rwanda Marburg Experience

The Threat: Marburg Virus Disease is from the same family as Ebola and has historically had a reported fatality rate as high as 90%.

The Outbreak (Sept. 2024): Rwanda declared an MVD outbreak. The initial cases involved a miner, his pregnant wife (who fell ill and died after having a baby), and the baby (who also died).

Healthcare Worker Impact: The wife was treated at an epicenter hospital. Eight HCWs were exposed to a nurse who was coding in the ICU; all eight developed symptoms, tested positive within a week, and four of them died.

The Turning Point: The outbreak happened in city referral hospitals where advanced medical interventions (dialysis, mechanical ventilation) were available.

Rapid Therapeutics Access: Within 10 days of identifying Marburg, novel therapies (experimental drugs and monoclonal antibodies) and an experimental vaccine were made available through diplomacy with the US government/CDC and agencies like WHO, Africa CDC, CEPI and more.

The Outcome: This coordinated effort—combining therapeutics, widespread testing, and years of investment in a resilient healthcare system—helped curb the fatality rate down to 23%.

Barriers and Enablers in Outbreak Preparedness

Fragmented Systems: Emergency and surveillance functions often operate in silos, leading to delayed or missed outbreak identification (e.g., inconsistent travel screening at JFK during early COVID-19 vs. African countries).

Solution: Empowering Emergency Departments and the community as the sentinel site can bridge this gap.

Limited Frontline Capacity and Protection: Clinicians are often undertrained and underprotected and are frequently not part of the decision-making for surveillance.

Weak Governance and Accountability: Unclear command structures and lack of feedback discourage early reporting.

Enabler: Strong governance and accountability in Rwanda helped contain the virus.

Dependence on External Programs: Many low-income countries rely on outside sources for vaccines and therapeutics, slowing response.

Solution: Invest in local production (e.g., Rwanda’s pre-outbreak investment in developing its own mRNA vaccines).

Lack of Resource-Smart Innovation: Gaps exist in things like integrating digital triage tools and surveillance systems.

Four Pillars of a Responsive and Equitable Emergency System

Workforce: Invest in pre-service and in-service training, mentorship, and fair compensation to ensure a skilled, protected, and motivated team.

Integration into the Health System: Emergency care (including pre-hospital services) must not operate in silos; it needs to be embedded in national health strategies and linked to surveillance, referral, and financing systems.

Equity in Design and Policy: The system must address the needs and protection of vulnerable groups and work closely with policymakers.

Data: Utilize real-time data and dashboards to provide a feedback loop between clinicians and policymakers, enabling tailored and innovative interventions.

Advice for Clinicians in Global Health Work

Start Small and Build Trust: Meaningful work requires humility and relationship over scale or visibility. Focus on local priorities and sustainable change through long-term partnership, not just presence. Avoid the “savior mindset”.

Be T-Shaped: Be deep in one specialty (e.g., EM) but fluent across other critical areas like policy, finance, and data, as these drive decision-making.

Focus on Knowledge Transfer: True impact means making yourself less essential over time. Prioritize mentorship, co-creation, and sharing leadership opportunities.

Looking Ahead: Global Threats Shaping the Next Decade

The future