Ethiopia has confirmed three deaths linked to Marburg virus in the country’s south, as health authorities race to contain an outbreak of the deadly haemorrhagic disease that has put neighbouring nations on high alert.
Health Minister Mekdes Daba announced the deaths on Monday, three days after the government officially declared an outbreak in the Omo region bordering South Sudan.
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Laboratory tests confirmed three deaths from the Ebola-like pathogen, while another three deaths showing symptoms of the disease are under investigation, the minister said in a statement reported by state broadcaster EBC.
The rapid spread of cases has triggered urgent containment measures across the region.
Ethiopia has isolated 129 people who came into contact with confirmed patients and is monitoring them closely, while South Sudan issued health advisories urging residents in border counties to avoid contact with bodily fluids.
Initial symptoms include severe fever, intense headaches and muscle pain, followed by vomiting and diarrhoea. In serious cases, patients develop haemorrhaging from the nose, gums and internal organs.
Ethiopian authorities first detected the virus on Wednesday in the Jinka area after receiving alerts about a suspected hemorrhagic illness. Officials tested 17 individuals, identifying at least nine infections before confirming the initial deaths.
Daba said that work is progressing to bring the outbreak under control quickly through a coordinated national response. The government has activated emergency response centres at multiple levels and deployed rapid response teams to affected areas, she said.
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The Ethiopian minister added that no active symptomatic cases are currently being treated.
Ethiopia has established its own laboratory testing capacity for Marburg at the national public health institute, allowing authorities to conduct diagnostics independently rather than relying solely on external support.
The minister urged anyone experiencing symptoms to seek immediate medical testing at health facilities.
International health teams from the World Health Organization and the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have arrived to support containment efforts.
The ministry has also launched a public awareness campaign, distributing infographics in Amharic detailing symptoms and prevention measures, and establishing a hotline for reporting suspected cases.
Marburg spreads through direct contact with infected bodily fluids or contaminated materials.
The virus kills roughly half of those infected on average, though mortality rates have climbed as high as 88 percent in previous outbreaks, according to WHO data.
The UN health agency warns that health workers are especially vulnerable to being infected by the virus “through close contact with patients when infection control precautions are not strictly practised”.
The Ethiopian outbreak extends a troubling pattern of haemorrhagic fever emergencies across East Africa.
A Marburg outbreak in Tanzania claimed 10 lives between January and March this year, while Rwanda ended its first recorded Marburg outbreak last December, with 15 people killed by the virus.
Rwanda tested an experimental vaccine during its outbreak response.
Africa CDC Director-General Jean Kaseya expressed particular concern about potential spillover into South Sudan, citing the country’s weak healthcare infrastructure as a major vulnerability in containing cross-border transmission.
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