An outbreak of Marburg Virus in southern Ethiopia has been officially declared over, according to a press release issued by the World Health Organization on 26 January 2026. The epidemic was declared over following two consecutive incubation periods passing without any new cases being recorded (the incubation period for Marburg Virus is considered to be 21 days). Nineteen people are believed to have been infected during the outbreak, including fourteen who were confirmed to have the Virus by laboratory testing (nine of whom died), and five people who died of a disease consistent with Marburg Virus infection, and were buried by local communities before being tested. A total of 3800 people from the were tested for the Virus, with 857 people from the South Ethiopia and Sidama regions known to have come into contact with at least one victim additionally monitored for symptoms for 21 days. The epidemic was declared to have ended 42 days of the death of the last detected patient on 14 December 2025.
The outbreak was first detected on 23 October 2025 when an adult patient presented at the Jinka General Hospital with symptoms including vomiting, loss of appetite, and abdominal cramps. Nineteen confirmed and probably cases were subsequently reported in the Jinka, Malle and Dasench woredas (districts) of South Ethiopia Region, and the Hawassa Woreda in Sidama Region.
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.
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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.
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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