Open Outbreak

Should I be worried about Filoviruses (Ebola and Marburg)?

Updated · Graded from official assessments; nothing here is medical advice.

Filoviruses (Ebola and Marburg) · Attention: high

If you are in the affected area no assessment
No agency has published a single risk level for people in the affected area for this mixed filovirus picture in the official notices used here. The main official notice is WHO's 8 October 2026 update on Ebola disease caused by Bundibugyo virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
If you are elsewhere in the same country or region no assessment
No agency has published a single risk level for people elsewhere in the same affected country or region for this mixed filovirus picture in the official notices used here. The main official notice is WHO's 8 October 2026 update on the Democratic Republic of the Congo outbreak.
If you are travelling there soon high
WHO said in its 8 October 2026 update, reflecting its 14 August reassessment, that the risk for countries sharing land borders with the Democratic Republic of the Congo was high. In the same update, WHO said a separate rapid risk assessment for Kenya was still ongoing. According to WHO
If you are elsewhere in the world low
WHO said in its 8 October 2026 update that the global risk was low. That assessment was part of its notice on Ebola disease caused by Bundibugyo virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. According to WHO

What is happening

Right now, the active filovirus event in the retrieved official notices is Ebola disease caused by Bundibugyo virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; WHO's retrieved Marburg notices say the Ethiopia outbreak ended on 26 January 2026, after Tanzania's outbreak had ended in 2025. WHO's latest public Ebola update, published on 8 October 2026 with data to 6 October, said the DRC outbreak had 8728 confirmed cases and 4205 confirmed deaths across 64 health zones in seven provinces. The same WHO update confirmed 1 imported fatal case in Kenya and a PCR-positive medically evacuated healthcare worker under treatment in the Netherlands. Later media reports citing DRC and Kenyan officials said DRC totals had risen to 9066 confirmed cases and 4381 deaths by 13 October, and that Kenya had confirmed a second case by 14 or 15 October; those later figures are unverified here against a newer WHO bulletin. On 19 October, media reports citing Kenyan health authorities said Kenya had 8 confirmed cases and 1 death, while WHO says response measures include isolation and supportive care, contact tracing, infection prevention and control, safe burials, surveillance, active case finding, and cross-border measures in Kenya and Uganda.

Who is affected and how it spreads

Filoviruses are the family that includes the viruses that cause Ebola and Marburg. Retrieved sources describe spread mainly through direct contact with an infected person's body fluids or with contaminated objects, and WHO Marburg notices say healthcare-associated spread can drive further transmission if it is not controlled early. Outbreaks often begin with spillover from animals, and the sources point to bats as an important reservoir. WHO Marburg notices describe the disease as epidemic-prone, with case fatality ratios reported at 24% to 88% across outbreaks.

What we are watching

Updates

Sources