Genomic analysis of early case samples from the 2025 Marburg virus outbreak in Ethiopia

In November 2025, Ethiopia reported its first outbreak of Marburg virus disease, with a case fatality rate of 64%. Here we report the analysis of seven near-complete Marburg virus genomes from seven early cases. The outbreak lineage belonged to the MARV.A.1 clade, which is closely related to genomes from historical human cases and bats. A high nucleotide identity across the seven genomes suggests human-to-human transmission after a zoonotic spillover event. These findings highlight the importance of genomic surveillance for outbreak detection, response and preparedness.