CDC Issues HAN Health Advisory on Marburg Virus Disease Outbreaks

On April 6, CDC issued a Health Alert Network (HAN) Health Advisory regarding two confirmed outbreaks of Marburg virus disease (MVD) – one in Equatorial Guinea and one in Tanzania. Currently, there is no evidence to suggest that these two outbreaks are related; most experts agree that these represent two independent animal-to-human spillover events. To date, no confirmed cases of MVD related to these outbreaks have been reported in the United States or other countries outside Equatorial Guinea and Tanzania. The CDC health advisory provides information about these outbreaks to increase awareness of the risk of imported cases in the United States. It also summarizes CDC’s recommendations for case identification, testing, and clinical laboratory biosafety considerations in the United States.