Update From Jinka, Ethiopia: 349 Contacts Being Monitored For The Dread Marburg Virus -- With No Approved Vaccine Yet.

We first mentioned this outbreak at mid-November 2025. This is the first known outbreak of the wildly-lethal Marburg (a distant cousin to Ebola), in Ethiopia.

And it does offer the opportunity to conduct a clinical trial in country, on a very promising vaccine candidate. It has shown both safety and some efficacy in non-controlled settings, thus far. But the top-line here is that up to 350 people were potentially exposed, through contact, with the index case, or the close contacts of the index case. So, it is an urgent public health matter.

Here's the latest, from CIRAP reporting, at the U. of Minn.:

. . .There are now 12 confirmed cases in the outbreak, which was first reported in mid-November and is occurring in the southern part of the country. Last week, the Ministry of Health said that 73 suspected case-patients have been tested so far, and 349 contacts were being monitored. Three patients have recovered, and one is still in treatment. . . .

This is Ethiopia's first outbreak of the severe and often deadly viral hemorrhagic fever, which is typically transmitted to people from fruit bats, can spread through contact with bodily fluids and contaminated materials, and is in the same family as Ebola. Nineteen outbreaks have previously been reported globally.

The case-fatality rate in previous outbreaks has ranged from 24% to 88%. Unlike with Ebola, there is no vaccine.

In a media briefing today, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, PhD, said the WHO is providing testing supplies and protective equipment for health care workers and deploying experts to support local authorities. . . .

Now you know -- with sunshine now melting the additional inch that fell here, in the wee hours -- still over a foot on the ground, with more due by tomorrow night. Hilarious!

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