NYC practices its response to Marburg virus following outbreak in Africa

Dozens of New York City fire and health officials lined up behind Bellevue Hospital on Wednesday afternoon to watch as paramedics in silver hazmat suits and oxygen masks transferred a man wrapped up in sheets like a burrito from an ambulance onto a stretcher.

He was rolled inside by clinicians in dressed in protective gear from head to toe, including face shields and multiple pairs of gloves.

The scene was one of the final steps in a lengthy practice drill simulating what would happen if a patient showed up at an NYC health clinic with symptoms of Marburg virus, a severe hemorrhagic fever similar to Ebola that’s rarely seen in the U.S. After outbreaks of Marburg popped up in Tanzania and Equatorial Guinea earlier this year, city health officials decided it should be the subject of the annual simulation, in which they practice the protocols for responding to a case of a rare or emerging disease.

“It’s a low-probability event, but low doesn’t mean zero,” said Syra Madad, the senior director of the special pathogens program at NYC Health + Hospitals.

Because Marburg can be spread from person to person through bodily fluids, clinicians and first responders donned extensive protective equipment during the exercise. But the U.S. has only recorded a single case in its history — a traveler brought it to Colorado from Uganda in 2008. Include miners and people exposed to Egyptian rousette bats are among those most at risk of infection in regions where the disease has been spotted, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Still, Madad said, these drills are key to ensuring that a disease like Marburg doesn’t spread if it ever makes its way to New York. Clinicians must practice isolating patients and protecting themselves, while public hospital officials contact the city and state health departments and the CDC. Such steps are crucial for stemming transmission through a major transportation…