Rwanda is close to ending its Marburg epidemic

Rwanda has discharged its final patient from the recent Marburg virus outbreak, starting the 42-day monitoring period required to declare the outbreak officially over. Since 30 October 2024, no new cases have been reported. The last patient, discharged on 8 November 2024, and their contacts, along with those linked to earlier cases, remain under observation for 21 days. The outbreak will be declared concluded if no new cases emerge within 42 days following the last negative test result. Despite the absence of new infections, Rwandan health authorities continue heightened surveillance, deploying nearly 60,000 community health workers to conduct active case finding and test individuals with suspected symptoms. This surveillance phase aims to ensure that any remaining chains of transmission are identified and addressed. The outbreak, declared on 27 September 2024, involved 66 confirmed cases and resulted in 15 fatalities. Almost 80% of cases were health workers who contracted the virus while delivering critical care. Rapid transmission initially impacted Kigali’s two main hospitals and spread within the family of one of the initial patients. However, swift and decisive interventions prevented community-level transmission. Rwanda’s outbreak response, backed by the WHO and other partners, implemented extensive infection prevention and control measures.