After mpox outbreak, Africa is under the threat of yet another virus outbreak, this is the Marburg virus outbreak in Rwanda. So far, six people have died from the outbreak, confirmed the health minister. Most victims were the healthcare workers in the hospital's intensive care unit. As per reports, 20 cases have been identified since the outbreak was confirmed on Friday.

What Is Marbug Virus?

With the fatality rate of 8% it is the same virus family as Ebola. The main carrier is from fruit bats which spreads to humans then through the contact of bodily fluids of infected individuals, it spreads to others.

Common Signs And Symptoms

The common signs and symptoms of the Marburg virus include fever, pain, diarrhoea, vomiting and in the case of extreme blood loss, death too can happen.

So far, there is no specific treatment or vaccine for the virus. However, treatments like drugs and immune therapy are being developed as per the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Call Of Action

Rwanda says that it has intensified its contact tracing, surveillance and testing to contain the spread. It has also tracked about 300 people who had come into contact with individuals affected by the Marburg virus.

The health minister has urged people to stay vigilant and avoid any physical contact and to wash their hands with clean water, soap or sanitiser and report any suspected case.

As of now, most of the cases have spread to the capital in Kigali. In light of this, the US Embassy in the city has advised its employees to work remotely for the next week.

This is the first time Rwanda has confirmed for Marburg cases, before this, in 2023, Tanzania confirmed the outbreak, whereas three people had died of this in Uganda in 2017.

History Of Marburg

As per WHO, this virus kills half of the people it infects. In the previous outbreaks, it has killed between 24% to 88% of the patients.

The virus was first detected in 1976 after 31 people were infected, out of which 7 died in simultaneous outbreak in Marburg and Frankfurt in Germany, and Belgrade in Serbia.

The source was traced to African green monkeys who were imported from Uganda. However, other animals too are linked to the virus spread, including bats.

In the past, the virus outbreaks have happened in countries like Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, South Africa, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. In 2005, this virus killed 300 people in Angola.

However, for the rest of the world, only two people have died from the virus in the rest of the world, with one of them being in Europe, and the other in the US. These both have been on expeditions to caves in Uganda.

Ireland experienced its largest reported community-acquired MRSA outbreak in 2025, with researchers linking 48 skin and soft-tissue infections to bouncy castles at an outdoor gathering, according to a report published in Eurosurveillance.

The outbreak sickened children and teenagers aged 5 to 16, with 15 requiring hospital care and four being admitted. None required intensive care, and there were no deaths.

Health officials traced the cluster to an outdoor social gathering in eastern Ireland in fall 2025, where children and teens played on three inflatable bouncy castles, many for several hours.

Nearly everyone who fell ill had attended the event, and all 47 cases who were at the gathering had played on the inflatables, researchers said.

The infections were caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), a drug-resistant form of staph bacteria that can cause painful skin infections and, in serious cases, spread deeper into the body.

The strain involved in the outbreak also carried Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL), a toxin associated with skin and soft-tissue infections. Researchers said the strain is rare in Ireland.

MRSA Symptoms Appeared Quickly

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The illnesses developed rapidly. Thirty-four of the 48 cases developed symptoms within two days of the gathering, with some children becoming sick within 24 hours.

Among the 27 cases where doctors recorded the location of infection, the legs were most commonly affected, particularly the thighs.

Some children also developed fever, nausea or vomiting.

Thirty-three children were treated by a general practitioner, while 15 went to a hospital emergency department or day ward. Four were admitted, with a median hospital stay of four days.

How The Outbreak May Have Spread

Researchers said the gathering took place on a warm, humid and intermittently rainy day. Parents recalled that children playing outside were noticeably wet.

About 120 people were believed to have attended the gathering, roughly half of them children and teenagers.

What Is MRSA?

MRSA is a type of Staphylococcus aureus (staph), a common bacterium that can cause infections. It is resistant to several commonly used antibiotics.

According to the US CDC, anyone can develop or carry an MRSA infection. The risk is higher with factors such as recent hospitalization or nursing home stays, skin-to-skin contact including during contact sports, and exposure to crowded or unhygienic settings.

Signs And Symptoms

Symptoms of a S. aureus infection, including MRSA, depend on the part of the body affected.

MRSA skin infections often develop through broken skin, such as cuts or scrapes. They may appear as a bump or infected area that is:

• Red
• Swollen
• Painful
• Warm to the touch
• Filled with pus or other drainage
• Accompanied by fever.

Health officials in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have stated that the Ebola outbreak has reached its peak, with the number of new cases slowing for the first time since May.

However, the UN has warned that the epidemic remains “massive” and is still growing in some areas, while the World Health Organization (WHO) said it is too early to confidently conclude that the outbreak has passed its peak.

The outbreak, caused by the rare Bundibugyo virus, was declared by the WHO on May 15. It is the DRC’s 17th Ebola outbreak since the virus was first identified in 1976.

It is also the second-deadliest Ebola outbreak on record, behind the West African outbreak that lasted from 2014 to 2016.

While clinical trials are ongoing for vaccines and treatments against Bundibugyo virus, the DRC received more than 70,000 doses of the Ervebo vaccine last month. Ervebo is approved for protection against the more common Zaire Ebola virus.

Are Ebola Cases Slowing?

Also read: Ebola Bundibugyo Virus: American Health Worker Had 10x Higher Viral Load In Throat Than Blood

According to the latest data from the Congolese health ministry, more than 7,200 confirmed cases and over 3,475 deaths had been reported as of September 14.

Congolese Health Minister Samuel Roger Kamba said transmission of the Bundibugyo virus had declined, with daily cases falling from about 120 at the peak in mid-August to around 80.

“We are fighting a very dangerous virus that is killing many of our people. Today, we can say that the outbreak is under control,” he said.

“At one point, we were recording about 120 cases per day; today, we’re seeing about 80 per day. So the number of new cases is decreasing every day.”

Kamba said 10 of the 62 affected health zones had reported no new cases for more than 22 days. Six health zones had gone more than 42 days without a new case, while four had gone more than 21 days without one.

He said the figures were “encouraging” but stressed that people must remain fully mobilized and not lower their guard.

Concerns Over Government Claim

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Last week, Sud-Ubangi province, which borders Congo-Brazzaville and the Central African Republic, became the sixth province to report Ebola cases.

While welcoming the progress, Iracan Gratien de Saint-Nicolas, an MP for Bunia, warned against “triumphalism” and called for greater transparency over the outbreak data, The Guardian reported.

“Claims that an epidemic is under control must be supported by objective indicators. If the indicators show that the epidemic is indeed under control, let’s make them public. Transparency in the data will strengthen public confidence,” he said.

He also called for lessons to be learned from failures in epidemiological surveillance that contributed to the rapid spread of the disease.

What Is The UN Saying?

UN officials acknowledged that response efforts were showing results but warned that the epidemic remained “massive” and could take months to bring under control.

“It remains a deadly and a massive epidemic. There are some areas of progress, but nonetheless, in other areas, we continue to see growth in cases,” Julien Harneis, the UN special Ebola coordinator, told a Geneva press briefing.

Asked about reports that the epidemic had reached a turning point, WHO's Olivier le Polain said: “It's too early to confidently say we have passed a peak”, Reuters reported.

A team of US researchers has developed an unconventional surveillance tool: a 3D-printed “mosquito toilet” that collects mosquito waste for genetic analysis.

The approach detected a complete West Nile virus genome and the first known evidence of a Hedwig-like virus in the Americas, along with several viruses that may be new to science and parasites.

Researchers from the Rutgers University adapted an approach used to track genetic evidence in wastewater, including during the COVID-19 pandemic and for polio surveillance, to mosquitoes.

How Does The Mosquito ‘Toilet’ Work?

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The team built what it called “a mosquito toilet” — a 3D-printed funnel coated with a superhydrophobic (water-repelling) material that causes liquid to bead up and slide into a collection tube, explained lead author and entomologist Dana Price from the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences.

The researchers collected two groups of 50 wild Culex mosquitoes from a yard in New Brunswick, New Jersey, in 2021 and 2022. They placed each group in a screened container over the funnel and fed them a sugar solution. The mosquitoes produced drops of waste, which slid into a tube.

The scientists used shotgun metagenomic sequencing, which sequences all genetic material present in a mixed sample. Computers then assembled the millions of fragments generated and compared them with known sequences in scientific databases.

What Did The Mosquito Waste Reveal?

The team captured tiny traces of mosquito waste and conducted genetic sequencing.

The findings, published in the journal Microbiology Spectrum, revealed:

• A complete West Nile virus genome
• The first known evidence of a Hedwig-like virus in the Americas
• Several viruses that may be new to science
• Parasites
• The mosquito species that deposited the waste droplets

The study suggests mosquito waste could become a surveillance tool, allowing scientists to search broadly for familiar pathogens as well as threats they don't yet know exist, Price said.

Mosquitoes excrete small amounts of liquid containing genetic traces of viruses and other organisms. Because the waste contains far less mosquito tissue, and therefore less mosquito DNA, than a crushed insect, the scientists reasoned that viral material might be easier to find.

A Full West Nile Virus Genome

The 2022 sample contained a complete, high-quality genome of West Nile virus, which can cause serious neurological illness in people.

The researchers identified the virus as belonging to the NY07 genetic variant previously found in the region. Such detail could help scientists track how genetic variants of a virus emerge, spread and change.

"What came out was an entire viral genome," Price said. "Rather than just positive or negative, we have genetic data."

An Unexpected Virus In The Americas

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The researchers were even more intrigued by evidence of a Hedwig-like virus, which hadn't previously been reported in the Americas.

Hedwig virus was first identified in Europe in snowy owl tissue, prompting scientists to name it after Harry Potter's famous white owl. Some of the infected birds also had West Nile virus.

Scientists don't know whether Hedwig-like viruses make birds sick, facilitate West Nile infections or simply coexist with other viruses.

The finding doesn't establish that the virus is a threat, Price said. It shows that it has been circulating where no one knew to search for it.

"We didn't even look for it specifically," Price said. "We just looked for everything, and we found Hedwig in there."

A virus found for the first time in a region may have recently arrived or may have gone unnoticed for years. Because few broad mosquito-virus studies have been conducted in North America, organisms that seem geographically restricted may prove widespread.

Price is currently working with health officials at the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection to screen organ and tissue samples for the virus. The samples are collected from deceased birds during a postmortem examination.