Tests come back clear for two feared to have Marburg virus in Hamburg

Medical tests came back negative for two people in Hamburg feared to have the Marburg virus, the German authorities said on Thursday, a day after they were taken to hospital on fears they were infected with the life-threatening haemorrhagic fever.

One of them is a medical student who came into contact with an infected person while treating patients abroad.

Doctors feared they were infected with the Marburg virus, which can cause high fever, haemorrhaging and other symptoms close to Ebola, which is the same sort of virus.

The student is to continue to be monitored until the end of the incubation period of up to 21 days and is to remain isolated in a special area of the University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE). He is then to be isolated at home and supervised by the health department, the authorities said.

The person accompanying him is also to be observed at the UKE over the weekend.

The medical student developed flu-like symptoms while he was travelling, and felt nauseous so contacted doctors, fearing he had contracted a tropical disease in Rwanda.

He did not have a fever, however, which is one of the main symptoms of the virus. It can also cause muscle pain, abdominal cramps, diarrhoea and bloody vomiting.

Frankfurt Airport is in contact with the authorities about the suspected cases, operator Fraport said.

People become infected through direct contact with the bodily fluids of those infected, such as blood, but not through the air. The incubation period is two to 21 days.