|
This message is being sent to the health alert network, travel health network, local public health officers, Tribal health directors, local public health department nurses, local public health department staff, and infection preventionists.
CDC Health Alert Network (HAN) Marburg Virus Disease Outbreak in the Republic of Rwanda
On October 3, 2024, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a Health Alert Network (HAN) Health Advisory providing information about the first confirmed outbreak of Marburg Virus Disease (MVD) in the Republic of Rwanda. MVD is a rare but severe viral hemorrhagic fever caused by the Marburg virus, which is in the same filovirus family as Ebola virus. The current outbreak consisted of 56 laboratory confirmed cases and 12 deaths as of October 8, 2024. Most of the people infected are health care workers. Alongside the HAN, the CDC has issued interim recommendations for public health management of health care workers returning from Rwanda.
In response to this outbreak, starting in mid-October, the CDC will implement public health entry screening at certain U.S. airports for people coming from the Republic of Rwanda. On October 7, the CDC raised the travel health notice level for travel to the Republic of Rwanda to Level 3 and recommends that travelers reconsider non-essential travel to Rwanda during the ongoing MVD outbreak.
Any returning health care personnel who were present in health care facility in Rwanda during the previous 21 days should be reported to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS). DHS will create a contact investigation record in the Wisconsin Electronic Disease Surveillance System (WEDSS) for each traveler and coordinate an exposure risk assessment and self-monitoring procedures with the traveler’s local or Tribal health department. Currently, the CDC does not recommend that public health conduct risk assessments or monitor travelers who are not health care workers. Returning health care personnel may be restricted from patient care during their 21-day monitoring period.
When returning health care workers are identified, DHS will coordinate with local and Tribal health departments and medical facilities to identify facilities where travelers under monitoring could be evaluated for illness or injury that occurs during the monitoring period, or for consideration of testing for Marburg virus.
In addition to the CDC recommendations listed in the HAN, DHS recommends the following to health care facilities:
-
All medical systems should identify hospitals or other facilities in Wisconsin where they would like a patient’s assessment for MVD or other unusual infectious disease to occur and ensure that they are prepared to follow infection prevention and control measures for these patients. It is expected that patients will receive assessment and initial care at a Wisconsin health care facility within their medical and insurance network. Travel to or from Rwanda in the past 21 days should not be a reason to defer routine laboratory testing or other measures necessary for standard patient care.
-
Patients should be systematically assessed for the possibility of viral hemorrhagic fevers, including MVD, through a triage and evaluation process that includes assessing a patient's signs and symptoms along with their travel history and epidemiologic risk factors.
An on-call epidemiologist in the DHS Bureau of Communicable Diseases can be reached 8 a.m.–4 p.m. at 608-267-9003 and during non-business hours at the DHS 24/7 emergency line at 800-943-0003 (option 4).
Resources for clinicians and health departments:
Additional information and resources:
|
