Marburg Virus Disease Detected in West Africa for First Time

The finding of the Ebola-like disease, which killed a man in Guinea, has prompted public health measures.

Written byShawna Williams

| 2 min read

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Update (September 20): Guinea’s Ministry of Health officially declared the Marburg outbreak over on September 16, according to a WHO announcement. No further cases of the virus had been identified, and investigators are still trying to determine the source of the infection.

Update (August 31): As of yesterday, the WHO has found no additional cases of Marburg in Guinea, STAT’s Helen Branswell reports on Twitter.

A man who died August 2 in Guéckédou Prefecture, Guinea, has been confirmed to have had Marburg virus disease, the World Health Organization announced yesterday. The case marks the first time the highly virulent, Ebola-like virus has been found infecting a person in West Africa. Previous outbreaks of Marburg virus disease, which is spread through contact with the body fluids of infected people or animals, have occurred mainly in eastern and southern Africa, according to The Guardian.

Guéckédou Prefecture has been ...

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Meet the Author

Shawna Williams
Shawna was an editor at The Scientist from 2017 through 2022. She holds a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from Colorado College and a graduate certificate in science communication from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Previously, she worked as a freelance editor and writer, and in the communications offices of several academic research institutions. As news director, Shawna assigned and edited news, opinion, and in-depth feature articles for the website on all aspects of the life sciences. She is based in central Washington State, and is a member of the Northwest Science Writers Association and the National Association of Science Writers.
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