Ethiopia's Marburg Virus Disease Outbreak Ends

The Ministry of Health of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia today officially declared the end of the country's first-ever outbreak of Marburg Virus Disease (MVD), a severe and often fatal hemorrhagic fever.

This declaration was made on January 26, 2026, after two consecutive incubation periods—totaling 42 days—without any new confirmed cases.

This timeline aligns with the World Health Organization (WHO) DON592 recommendations for declaring the end of an MVD outbreak.

The outbreak was first confirmed by the WHO on November 14, 2025, in the South Ethiopia Region, particularly in Jinka.

As of January 2026, there had been a cumulative total of 19 cases: 14 laboratory-confirmed cases (including nine deaths and five recoveries) and five probable cases, all of which were fatal.

This Horn of Africa outbreak marks the 20th reported case of MVD globally. Previous outbreaks have occurred in several African countries, including Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda, and most recently, Tanzania.

MVD is caused by the Marburg virus, which is transmitted to humans from fruit bats and through human-to-human contact via bodily fluids. Since it was first observed in 1967 during an outbreak in West Germany, the case fatality rate can exceed 80% in some outbreaks.

Currently, there are no licensed vaccines or specific treatments for the Marburg virus, but research is ongoing. The Marburg Virus Vaccine Consortium, established in response to earlier outbreaks in Guinea and Ghana, is advancing vaccine development.

And in early January 2026, the Oxford Vaccine Group and the Pandemic Sciences Institute confirmed they are collaborating with the Institute for Drug Discovery at Leipzig University and Moderna, with support of up to $26.7 million from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and the European Union's Horizon Europe program to develope multivalent vaccines that provide broad protection against multiple filoviruses, including the Ebola virus (Zaire ebolavirus), Sudan virus, Bundibugyo virus, and MVD.

Vax-Before-Travel will continue monitoring developments related to emerging infectious diseases.