At least three people have died due to infection with Marburg Virus Disease, with a further three deaths probably linked to the illness, in an outbreak in the town of Jinka in South Ethiopia, according to a press release issued by the World Health Organization on 21 November 2025.
The Ethiopian Ministry of Health and Ethiopian Public Health Institute first raised the alarm about an outbreak of haemorrhagic fever in the town on 12 November, with the infection being confirmed as Marburg Virus by the National Reference Laboratory two days later. As of 20 November, 33 people have been tested for the Virus, with infection confirmed in six persons, three of whom have died, with the remaining three now receiving treatment. A further three people have died without testing, and are thought likely to have been infected. A total of 206 people who may have come into contact with the Virus have been identified, with an active program of contacting and testing in place.
This is the first known Human outbreak of Marburg Virus in Ethiopia, although the Virus has previously been found in Fruit Bats in the country.
Marburg Virus Disease is a haemorrhagic fever, similar to the closely related Ebola Virus Disease. Both are caused by single-strand negative-sense RNA viruses of the Filoviridae family. Both are easily spread though contact with bodily fluids, and can also spread by contaminated clothing and bedding.
Marburg Virus has an incubation period of between two and 21 days, manifesting at first as a high fever, combined with a severe headache and a strong sense of malaise. This is typically followed after about three days by severe abdominal pains, with watery diarrhoea and vomiting. In severe cases the disease develops to a haemorrhagic stage after five-to-seven days, manifesting as bleeding from some or all bodily orifices. This typically leads to death on day eight or nine, from severe blood loss and shock. There is currently no treatment or vaccine available for Marburg Virus, although a number of teams are working on trying to develop vaccines.
Previous outbreaks of Marburg Virus have been reported in Rwanda, as well as the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo and Tanzania. The Virus has also been reported in a number of other African countries, including Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, and Tanzania. The most recent outbreaks occurred in January this year in Tanzania.
The high rate of infection of healthcare workers seen in Marburg Virus is particularly alarming, as this tends to weaken communities ability to resist the Virus. The Virus can spread quickly in healthcare settings, infecting people whose immune systems are already stressed by other conditions, and creating aa reserve which can feed infections in the wider community. This makes it important to screen all people potentially infected with the disease as quickly as possible, and to arrange for patients to be treated in isolation, as well as quickly tracing all known contacts of any cases, and screening them for infection too.
Marburg Virus is a zoonotic infection (disease transferred from Animals to Humans), with a wild-reserve of the Virus known to be present in Egyptian Fruit Bats, Rousettus aegyptiacus, which are found across much of Africa, the Mediterranean region, the Middle East, and South Asia. These Bats form large colonies in caves or sometimes mines. They are frugivores, and can be major pests of farmed fruits, bringing them into conflict with Humans, and are sometimes hunted for food, all of which create potential avenues for the Marburg Virus to pass from a Bat host to a Human one.
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