ABSTRACT
FILOVIRUS DISEASE: SYMPTOMS, PATHOGENESIS, AND CLINICAL COURSE The initial recognition of filoviruses dates back to 1967, when the first cases of Marburg virus were detected in an animal colony in Marburg, Germany (1). Identification of an outbreak of hemorrhagic fever in the Ebola River valley in 1976 led to the recognition of the Ebola virus, a closely related pathogen, both in terms of the disease and its genetic organization. After its discovery and a few sporadic incidents of Ebola fever in the 1980s, outbreaks have been seen more consistently since the mid-1990s, raising the concern of a new mode of transmission and an increasing public health threat (2,3).
