12/09/2025
CDC HAN: First Reported Outbreak Caused by Marburg Virus in Ethiopia
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued a Health Alert Network (HAN) Health Advisory regarding information about the first reported outbreak of Marburg virus disease (MVD) in Ethiopia's South Ethiopia and Sidama regions. Currently, there are no suspected, probable, or confirmed MVD cases related to this outbreak that have been reported in the United States or other countries outside of Ethiopia as of December 3, 2025, and the risk of spread to the United States is considered low at this time.
The CDC recommends that healthcare professionals should be prepared to follow the CDC's Infection Prevention and Control Recommendations for Patients in U.S. Hospitals who are Suspected or Confirmed to have Selected Viral Hemorrhagic Fevers. Healthcare professionals are recommended to systematically assess patients with exposure risk and compatible symptoms for the possibility of viral hemorrhagic fevers (VHFs), including MVD, through a clinical triage and evaluation process, including a travel history. MVD is a severe illness and can be fatal. Healthcare providers should consider including MVD in the differential diagnosis for an ill person who has compatible symptoms AND who has reported epidemiological risk factors within the 21 days before symptom onset.
Testing for more common diagnoses, such as malaria, COVID-19, influenza, or other common causes of gastrointestinal and febrile illnesses in an acutely ill patient with recent international travel should be considered. Presence in Ethiopia in the past 21 days is not a reason to defer routine laboratory testing or other measures necessary for standard patient care.
Patients who have both an exposure risk AND any symptoms compatible with MVD should immediately isolate and hospitalize patients in a healthcare facility until receiving a negative Marburg virus test result on a specimen collected ≥ 72 hours after symptom onset. Do not delay MVD diagnostic testing while awaiting results of other diagnostic testing. If MVD is suspected, healthcare providers should contact their state, tribal, local, or territorial health department immediately and follow jurisdictional protocols for patient assessment.
Healthcare providers should counsel patients with planned travel to an MVD outbreak-affected area on ways to prevent exposure during their travel. Healthcare workers traveling to Ethiopia for work in clinical settings should be counseled about the potential increased risk of exposure to MVD, the importance of following recommended infection prevention and control precautions, and the need for monitoring oneself for symptoms of MVD after returning to the United States.
View the CDC’s HAN Health Advisory here:
https://www.cdc.gov/han/php/notices/han00525.html
