Ethiopian Marburg Virus outbreak officially declared to have ended.

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.

Map of woredas (districts) reporting confirmed and probable Marburg Virus disease cases in Ethiopia, as of 25 January 2026. World Health Organization.

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.

Negative stained transmission electron micrograph of a number of filamentous Marburg Virions, which had been cultured on Vero cell cultures, and purified on sucrose, rate-zonal gradients. Erskine Palmer/Russell Regnery/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/Wikimedia Commons.

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.

A colony of Egyptian Rousette Bats, Rousettus aegyptiacus. Giovanni Mari/Flikr/iNaturalist.

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Ethiopian volcano erupts for first time in recorded history.

Hayli Gubbi, a shield volcano in the Afar Region of Ethiopia, erupted on Sunday 23 November 2025, for what appears to be the first time in recorded history. The volcano erupted for under twelve hours, from about 11.30 am to about 11.00 pm local time (about 8.30 am to about 8.00 pm GMT), producing an ash column about 14 km high, which drifted to the east over the Red Sea, according to the Toulouse Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre. Nobody was directly hurt by the eruption, but local farmers report crops being covered with ash, which may potentially lead to famine in the region.

An ash cloud over Hayli Gubbi on 23 November 2025. Afar Government Communication Service.

Hayli Gubbi is a 493 m high scoria cone (cone of ash) sitting on an older shield volcano (dome shaped volcano made up of layers of lava) located at the southernmost end of the Erte Ale Volcanic Chain. The volcano has never been observed to erupt before, and it is thought not to have erupted since the Late Pleistocene, more than 12 000 years ago, although the remote location of the volcano means that it has not been studied well. 

The deserts of Northern Ethiopia and Southern Eritrea are extremely volcanicly active, with dozens of volcanoes fed by an emerging divergent margin along the East African Rift; the Erta Ale Chain lies on the Ethiopian Rift, the boundary between the Nubian Plate and the Danakil Microplate. The African Plate is slowly splitting apart along the Ethiopian Rift and the East African Rift to the south (which is splitting the Nubian Plate to the West from the Somali Plate to the East). Arabia was a part of Africa till about thirty million years ago, when it was split away by the opening of the Red Sea Rift (part of the same rift system), and in time the Ethiopian and East African Rifts are likely to split Africa into a number of new landmasses.

Rifting in East Africa. The Danakil Microplate is the red triangle to the east of the Afar depression at the southern end of the Red Sea. Università degli Studi di Firenze.

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Outbreak of Marburg Virus in Ethiopia kills at least three.

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. 

Map of Ethiopia showing location of Jinka town. World Health Organization.

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.

Negative stained transmission electron micrograph of a number of filamentous Marburg Virions, which had been cultured on Vero cell cultures, and purified on sucrose, rate-zonal gradients. Erskine Palmer/Russell Regnery/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/Wikimedia Commons.

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.

A colony of Egyptian Rousette Bats, Rousettus aegyptiacus. Giovanni Mari/Flikr/iNaturalist.

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Hominin remains from the Late Pliocene of Ledi-Geraru, Ethiopia.

The genera Homo and Paranthropus are common in the fossil record from about 2.0 million years ago. Both are thought to have derived from an earlier Australopithecus ancestor, with the most likely ancestor for the genus Homo generally thought to be Australopithecus afarensis. However, Australopithecus afarensis is not known after 2.95 million years ago, with Hominid fossils being rare over the intervening interval, spanning the latest Pliocene and earliest Pleistocene. Examples of Paranthropus have recently been described from 2.7 million-year-old deposits in the Omo-Turkana Basin of Ethiopia and Nyayanga in Kenya, and the 2.66 million-year-old deposits at Laetoli in Tanzania, while a jawbone attributed to the genus Homo has been found at Ledi-Geraru in Ethiopia which has been dated to 2.78 million years ago, pushing the presence of both these 'Pleistocene' genera back into the latest Pliocene, while a new species of Australopithecus, Australopithecus garhi, has recently been described from 2.5 million-year-old (earliest Pleistocene) deposits in the Afar region of Ethiopia.

In a paper published in the journal Nature on 13 August 2025, a team of scientists led by Brian Villmoare of the Department of Anthropology at the University of Nevada Las Vegas describe a series of recent Hominin finds made by the Ledi-Geraru Research Project in the Afar Basin of Ethiopia.

The Ledi-Geraru sites are located at the northern end of the palaeoanthropological sites of the Afar Basin, and has produced the only known evidence of the genus Australopithecus surviving after 2.95 million years ago, as well as the earliest evidence for the appearance of the genus Homo. Paranthropus has not been found in this area, but it is unclear whether this represents a genuine absence. The two sites of Ledi-Geraru, Lee Adoyta and Asboli are to the west of the Awash River, in an area cut through by the Mille and Geraru rivers and their tributaries. The deposits here are between 2.5 and 3.0 million years old, and have been dated by Argon-Argon radioisotope stratigraphy of volcanic layers, as well as magnitostratigraphy.

Map of the Ledi-Geraru Research Project area. (a) The  Ledi-Geraru Research Project area (yellow star) is located towards the northern  extent of palaeontological sites (red circles) in the Afar depression, Afar Region,  Ethiopia. (b) Within the Ledi-Geraru project area, the Lee Adoyta and Asboli fossil  sites are located approximately 12.5 km apart. Villmoare et al. (2025).

Argon-Argon dating relies on determining the ratio of radioactive Argon⁴⁰ to non-radioactive Argon³⁹ within minerals from igneous or metamorphic rock (in this case volcanic ash) to determine how long ago the mineral cooled sufficiently to crystallise. The ratio of Argon⁴⁰ to Argon³⁹ is constant in the atmosphere, and this ratio will be preserved in a mineral at the time of crystallisation. No further Argon³⁹ will enter the mineral from this point, but Argon⁴⁰ is produced by the decay of radioactive Potassium⁴⁰, and increases in the mineral at a steady rate, providing a clock which can be used to date the mineral.

Magnitostratigraphy uses traces of ancient magnetic fields preserved in iron minerals in rocks to trace ancient pole reversals; the poles only have two possible orientations (north pole in the north/south pole in the south or south pole in the north/north pole in the south) and these occasionally flip, with the poles exchanging positions. Pole reversals happen more-or-less at random, with periods between reversals occurring at intervals ranching from tens of thousands to millions of years, and reflected across the globe. This creates a pattern of magnetic reversals in sedimentary rocks that can be matched in different rocks across the globe.

The first specimen described by Villmoare et al. comes from the Gurumaha Sedimentary Package, which outcrops in narrow fault-bounded exposures in the central Lee Adoyta basin and in drag-faulted blocks adjacent to basalt ridges  bounding the basin to the east. This sedimentary package is cut through by the Gurumaha Tuff, which has been dated to 2.782 million years before the present. This is the unit which previously produced specimen LD 350, a 2.78 million-year-old mandible which is the oldest fossil assigned to the genus Homo. 

The specimen derived from this unit, LD 302-23, is a third right lower premolar found 22 m to the southwest and 7 m bellow specimen LD 350, but still above the Gurumaha Tuff layer. This tooth measures 11.5 mm in length and 10.5 mm in width, and has a fragment of enamel missing from its lingual corner, being otherwise well-preserved. The shape of the premolar is consistent with that seen in some examples from Australopithecus afarensis, but the pattern of cusps is quite different to anything seen in any member of the genus, making it unlikely that this tooth came from an Australopithecus. It also falls within the size range of both species of Paranthropus, but is quite different in shape. Third premolars from early members of the genus Homo are quite variable, but clearly differ from both those of Australopithecus and Paranthropus. Since this tooth falls within the size and shape variation found in these early Homo specimens, Villmoare et al. assign it to the genus Homo. 

New Hominin dentition from the Ledi-Geraru Research project. Right, from top: LD 302-23 P₃,  LD 750 P₄, AS 100 M¹ and AS 100 M².  Left, images show the LD 760 assemblage  (top, from left: maxillary molar, I², I¹, maxillary canine; bottom, mandibular molars). Villmoare et al. (2025).

The second specimen described, LD 750-115670, is an isolated lower fourth premolar, found at the base of an 8 m exposure of fossiliferous mudstones and sandstones at site LD 750. This site is located stratigraphically between the 2.63 million-year-old Lee Adoyta Tuffs and the 2.59 million-year-old Giddi Sands Tuff. 

The tooth crown is unworn, with all cusps preserved, although the root is broken off, giving a maximum root height of about 2 mm. The lack of wear may imply that the tooth was unerupted at the time of death. The tooth is 12.4 mm long and 11.4 mm wide, placing it at the upper end of the size range for Australopithecus afarensis or Australopithecus africanus, and too large for Australopithecus anamensis. No lower jaw or teeth are known for Australopithecus garhi, but the specimen is within a plausible size range for the species. It also falls within the size range of both Paranthropus species, but again is quite different in shape. It does resemble several fourth premolars attributed to early Homo, though Villmoare et al. note that these attributions are provisional, and that it is difficult to distinguish between early Homo and Australopithecus fourth premolars. Since this tooth lacks any distinctively Homo features, Villmoare et al. provisionally assign it to aff. Australopithecus sp..

A set of five associated lower molars were discovered at a site identified as LD 760, a flat sandy area approximately below the 2.63 million-year-old Lee Adoyta Tuffs. These are worn, with dentine exposed on their outer cusps, and wide for their lengths, giving them a squarish profile. Notably, the third molar is larger than the second molar, and the second molar is larger than the first, the first and second molars a relatively square, and the first and second molars lack a seventh cusp, all traits compatible with Australopithecus afarensis, but not early Homo. However, these teeth also differ from those of Australopithecus afarensis in several ways; they do not taper towards the rear, and lack a distinctive bilobate buccal contour. 

LD 760 molars compared to Australopithecus afarensis. Left molars from Ledi-Geraru specimen LD 760 (left) and Hadar specimen A.L. 400-1 (right). Measurements in mm of the LD 760 molars (length × width): LM1: 13.3 × 13.4, LM2: 14.5 × 14.6, LM3: 14.0 (estimated) × 15.7, RM1: 13.2 × 13.1, RM2: 14.8 × 15.2. Specimens are oriented with their buccal surfaces to the left and mesial surfaces up. Villmoare et al. (2025).

A partial upper molar was also recovered from this locality. This preserves the lingual grove of the tooth, which appears to be quite distinct. In the upper molars of Australopithecus garhi this groove is indistinct. Furthermore, the upper molars of Australopithecus garhi has a greatly reduced hypercone cusp, which leads the protocone cusp to take on a triangular shape. The hypercone is absent in the LD 760 specimen, but the protocone is present, and shows no sign of modification due to a reduced hypercone. However, the sample size for Australopithecus gahri is small, so this cannot be ruled out as a natural variation within the species.

Also found at the LD760 site were a right maxillary (upper) canine, a complete left maxillary lateral incisor and a left fragmentary maxillary central incisor. Thecanine (LD 760-115979) is well  preserved, lacking only the tip of the root. This has mesial and distal interproximal contact facets (wear marks caused by contact between teeth), with the interproximal contact facet having a matching distal interproximal contact facet on the second incisor. This means that the second incisor and canine were in contact, something typical of the the genus Homo, and unlike the situation in many Australopithecus specimens (including the Australopithecus gahri maxilla BOU-VP-12/130) where these two teeth are separated by a diastema (this trait is variable in Australopithecus afarensis, which may-or-may not have a diastema, so this could conceivably also be the case in Australopithecus gahri). The canine is also notably large, towards the upper end of the size range seen in Australopithecus (and much larger than anything seen in Paranthropus).

Comparative maxillary canine morphology. (a) Lingual (left) and  labial (right) views of the Ledi-Geraru LD 760-115979 canine (left) with Hadar Australopithecus afarensis specimens A.L. 763-1 (middle) and A.L. 333x-3 (right). Note that the  LD 760 canine is a right canine, whereas the Australopithecus afarensis canines are from the  left and are mirrored in these images. (b)–(d) LD 760-115979 ((b) shown in lingual view) contrasted with Hadar Australopithecus afarensis specimen A.L. 199-1 ((c) right canine  shown; distal to the upper right) and Bouri Australopithecus garhi specimen BOU-VP-12/130  (d) left canine, mirrored; distal is to the right). Note the simple mesial–distal  chisel-like wear pattern on the LD 760 canine (b) in contrast to the complex  multi-faceted wear pattern of Australopithecus afarensis (c) and the broad curved basin on the  distal side of the Australopithecus garhi upper canine ((d) this is seen on both left and right  canines). Images are oriented differently to emphasise the distinctive relevant morphology. Images in (b)–(d) are not to scale. Vallmoare et al. (2025).

The canine of Australopithecus gahri has a unique structure, with a shallow distal basin reminiscent of a talon which is contiguous with a wide wear furrow which runs along the entire post-canine dental row, something not seen in any other Hominin, and absent in the LD 760 canine. Morphologically, this tooth resembles those of Australopithecus afarensis, however, it has different wear patterns. In Australopithecus afarensis wear is mostly seen on the distal crest, whereas in the the LD 760 canine it is predominantly on the apex, suggesting a difference in diet and/or lifestyle.

The LD 760 individual clearly does not belong to Paranthropus, and is not morphologically consistent with any described species of Australopithecus. However, since it resembles Australopithecus afarensis more closely than anything else, Vallmoare et al. refer it to Australopithecus sp. indet.

The final specimens discussed come from the Giddi Sands unit in the Asboli region. These were found immediately below the 2.593 million-year-old Giddi Sands Tuff, and comprise a partial upper left first molar, and two fragments of an upper left second molar, which can be assembled to form a whole crown. They show little wear, and are close in shape to those of Australopithecus afarensis, although they lack the pronounced lingual occlusocervical sloping and general 'puffy' appearance of the molars of that species. They closely resemble the molars of early Homo specimens such as the 2.3 million-year-old specimen from the Busidima Formation at Hadar, or the 2.5-2.4 million-year-old specimen from Mille-Logya. It is quite different in form from the molars of Australopithecus gahri, and is small compared to the molars of either Australopithecus gahri or Paranthropus. 

Vallmoare et al. believe that although the Ledi-Geraru material is very limited, it provides clear evidence that both Australopithecus and Homo were present during the 3.0-2.5 million years ago interval, suggesting that multiple non-robust Hominin lineages were present in East Africa before 2.5 million years ago. 

The molar fragments from Asboli sufficiently resemble the Homo specimens from Hadar and Mille-Logya that Vallmoare et al. are confident that they represent the same species. However, they predate the older of these specimens (Mille-Logya) by at least 150 000 years. This adds to the evidence for an early appearance of Homo as Ledi-Geraru previously established by the LD 350-1 mandible, as does the LD 302-23 premolar which Vallmoare et al. describe from the Gurumaha sedimentary package.

The LD 750 and LD 760 material both come from the Lee Adoyta sedimentary package, although they are separated by 24 m of strata and the 2.63 million-year-old Lee Adoyta Tuffs. Nevertheless, both appear to represent a single species of Australopithecus (an assumption based in part upon the unlikelyhood of two similar species of Austrlopithecus coexisting in the same area). 

Vallmoare et al. consider four potential explanations for this material. Firstly, they might represent a late surviving population of Australopithecus afarensis (approximately 350 000 younger than the current youngest member of the species, from the Kada Hadar 2 Submember at Hadar). Secondly, they may represent an unknown species of Australopithecus ancestral to Paranthropus; the presence of Homo in this region implies that the Homo and Paranthropus lineages had diversified by this time, but Paranthropus itself appears to be absent. However, the oldest currently accepted member of the genus coming from about 2.7 million years ago from Nyayanga in Kenya and 2.66 million years ago from the Upper Ndolanya Beds at Laetoli in Tanzania, which makes this scenario less likely. Thirdly, they may represent earlier examples of Australopithecus gahri, which have not yet developed the distinctive features of the 2.5 million-year-old specimen BOU-VP-12/130, although the lack of similarities makes this unlikely. Finally, these specimens represent a new, as yet undescribed, species of Australopithecus.

Villmoare et al. conclude that were at least three species of Hominins present in the Afar Region between 3.0 and 2.5 million years ago, Australopithecus gahri, an unknown species of Homo, and an unknown species of Australopithecus. At the same time, Australopithecus africanus was still present in South Africa, and Paranthropus had already appeared in Kenya, Tanzania, and southern Ethiopia. The Ledi-Geraru environment was drier and more open than was typical for Australopithecus, very much the sort of environment associated with appearance and proliferation of the genus Homo, suggesting that, at least locally, Australopithecus may have been able to adjust to these more open environments, at least for a while.

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Magnitude 5.8 Earthquake in the Afar Region of Ethiopia linked to activity on Mount Dafan.

The Ethiopian Geological Institute has reported a Magnitude 5.8 Earthquake at a depth of 10.0 km, in the Awash Fentale Woreda (District) of the Afar Region of Ethiopia, about 150 km to the northeast of Addis Ababa, slightly after 4.50 am local time (slightly after 0.50 am GMT) on Saturday 4 January 2025. There are no reports of any damage or injuries arising from this quake, but it was felt as far away as Addis Ababa, and it is possible that some minor damage has occurred.

The approximate location of the 4 January 2024 Ethiopian Earthquake. USGS.

This is the latest in a series of Earthquakes in the Central Ethiopia, which began in the third week of December 2024. Clusters of Earthquakes are concerning in northern or central Ethiopia, as the area is volcanic, and seismic movements can be linked to magma moving into chambers beneath volcanoes from deeper in the Earth, which in turn can be a predictor of future volcanic eruptions. On this occasion the Ethiopian Geological Institute has suggested that the Earthquakes may be linked to a fissure eruption on Mount Dafan, a shield volcanoe in the Dulacha Woreda, which opened on 2 January producing a sustained jet of steam and hot water. Residents of the area have been evacuated as a precaution against a future, larger eruption.

A vent which opened on Mount Dafan in the Dulacha Woreda of Ethiopia on 3 January 2024, producing a sustained jet of steam and hot water. Ethiopian Geological Institute/Facebook.

The deserts of Northern Ethiopia and Southern Eritrea are extremely volcanically active, with dozens of volcanoes fed by an emerging divergent margin along the East African Rift. The African Plate is slowly splitting apart along the Ethiopian Rift and the East African Rift to the south (which is splitting the Nubian Plate to the West from the Somali Plate to the East). Arabia was a part of Africa till about thirty million years ago, when it was split away by the opening of the Red Sea Rift (part of the same rift system), and in time the Ethiopian and East African Rifts are likely to split Africa into a number of new landmasses. This rifting exerts pressure on the rocks around the margin of the sea, slowly pushing them apart, not smoothly but in fits and starts as the pressure overcomes the tendency of the rocks to stick together, creating shocks that we experience as Earthquakes.

Rifting in East Africa. The Danakil Microplate is the red triangle to the east of the Afar depression at the southern end of the Red Sea. Università degli Studi di Firenze.

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