Ethiopia declares end of its first Marburg outbreak after 42 days with no new cases
Ethiopia announced the end of its first Marburg virus outbreak, completing the WHO-required 42-day period without new confirmed cases. The outbreak caused multiple deaths and tested infection control capacity in affected districts.
Outbreak declared over after required monitoring period
Ethiopia on January 26, 2026 declared the end of its first Marburg virus outbreak after completing 42 consecutive days with no new confirmed cases, meeting the World Health Organization’s standard for declaring an outbreak over. The outbreak was first confirmed on November 14, 2025 in the country’s southern region near the South Sudan border.
Health officials reported 14 confirmed cases, including nine deaths and five recoveries, along with additional deaths classified as probable cases. The response required rapid surveillance, contact follow-up, and strengthened infection prevention measures, especially in healthcare settings where the virus can spread through contact with bodily fluids and contaminated materials.
What Marburg is and why it is feared
Marburg is a viral hemorrhagic fever linked to fruit bats and capable of human-to-human transmission through close contact with infected fluids. Symptoms can include fever, muscle pain, vomiting, diarrhea, and, in severe cases, bleeding and shock. Because outbreaks can grow quickly without strong isolation and protective equipment, the disease is treated as a high-consequence public health threat.
There is currently no widely licensed vaccine or specific approved treatment, so outbreak control typically depends on early detection, isolation, supportive clinical care, safe burials, and sustained community engagement to reduce risky exposure.
What officials will do next
Even with the outbreak declared over, health authorities typically continue enhanced surveillance to ensure rapid detection of any resurgence, as spillover risks can persist in areas where bats and human activity overlap. The experience also tends to drive longer-term investments in lab capacity, emergency coordination, and training for infection prevention and control.
International partners, including the WHO, supported Ethiopia’s response with technical assistance across surveillance, diagnosis, case management, logistics, and risk communication. Public health officials often view the end-of-outbreak declaration as a milestone, but also as a prompt to institutionalize the lessons learned before the next emergency.