ETIDIOH - NEW

  Abstract Marburg virus (MARV) is the primary cause of Marburg virus disease (MVD), a severe hemorrhagic fever with a high case-fatality rate. The first reported MVD outbreak in Tanzania occurred in 2023 , followed by a second outbreak in 2025 , both within the Kagera region . During those MVD outbreaks, 174 suspected cases were identified; of those, 10 were laboratory confirmed. After complete genome assembly and bioinformatic analyses, we found the MARV strains of the 2023 and 2025 outbreaks to be closely related and clustered with MARV strains that caused outbreaks in Rwanda (2024) and Uganda (2014). The sequences from both MVD outbreaks in Tanzania showed >99.71% nucleotide identity, suggesting a possible single spillover event followed by limited human-to-human virus transmission . Further ecologic studies are essential to identify potential spillover events, but our findings indicate that closely related MARV strains circulate in Kagera, Tanzania, posing a risk for future...

  Abstract Background On September 27, 2024, Rwanda reported an outbreak of Marburg virus disease (MVD), after a cluster of cases of viral hemorrhagic fever was detected at two urban hospitals. Methods We report key aspects of the epidemiology, clinical manifestations, and treatment of MVD during this outbreak, as well as the overall response to the outbreak. We performed a retrospective epidemiologic and clinical analysis of data compiled across all pillars of the outbreak response and a case-series analysis to characterize clinical features, disease progression, and outcomes among patients who received supportive care and investigational therapeutic agents. Results Among the 6340 patients with suspected MVD who underwent testing, 66 had laboratory-confirmed MVD , 51 (77%) of whom were health care workers. The median estimated incubation period was 10 days (interquartile range, 8 to 13), and symptom onset occurred a median of 2 days (interquartile range, 1 to 3) before hospital ad...

  Abstract Risk of death for both mother and fetus following Ebola virus infection is extremely high . In this study, healthy women in Rwanda aged ≥18 years were randomized to two-dose Ebola vaccination (Ad26.ZEBOV, MVA-BN-Filo) during pregnancy (group A) or postpartum (group B). Unvaccinated pregnant group B women served as control. This was a parallel, randomized, controlled, open-label, single-center trial to evaluate the safety (primary endpoint—outcomes of interest and serious adverse events (SAEs)) and immunogenicity (secondary endpoint) of the two-dose Ebola vaccination. Among 3,484 women screened, 2,013 were randomized, and 2,012 women and 1,945 infants born alive were descriptively analyzed . Adverse outcomes of interest occurred in women ( 5.2% in group A and 7.3% in group B ) and infants ( 26.0% in group A and 25.6% in group B ). The most common maternal outcome of interest was pathways to preterm birth (3.2% in group A and 3.4% in group B), and the most common infant ou...

 {Summary} Situation at a glance On 20 December 2024, after two consecutive incubation periods (total of 42 days) since the second negative PCR test was conducted on 7 November for the last confirmed Marburg case, and without a new confirmed case reported , the Ministry of Health of Rwanda declared the end of the Marburg virus disease (MVD) outbreak , as per the WHO recommendations.  The outbreak had been declared on 27 September 2024 .  As of 19 December 2024, 66 confirmed cases,15 deaths with a case fatality ratio ( CFR) of 23%, and 51 recovered cases have been reported.  The last confirmed case was reported on 30 October 2024 .  WHO through its country office and development partners provided technical and financial support to the government to contain this outbreak.  The risk of re-emergence of MVD still remains even after the official declaration of the end of the outbreak, linked to viral persistence in body fluids (mostly semen) of recovered patients...