NEIDL Faculty Quoted in Nature Article on Marburg Virus
April 20, 2026 – Python Cave, in Uganda’s Queen Elizabeth National Park is famous for its wildlife. Thousands of Egyptian fruit bats call the cave home, providing ample food for the African rock pythons which give the cave its name.
But the cave is also home to Marburg virus – a member of the filovirus family that circulates in the bat population and can cause severe, often fatal, hemorrhagic fever disease in humans. In 2008, two tourists who visited the cave became sick after returning home. One, a US citizen, survived. The other, a Dutch tourist, died in the Netherlands shortly after returning from Uganda. These cases highlight the danger of spillover events; according to research from the NEIDL’s Dr. Adam Hume, at least nine of the 21 confirmed outbreaks of Marburg virus have been associated with visits to a cave.
Dr. Hume’s research was cited in a recent news article in Nature, along with a quote from NEIDL faculty Dr. Elke Mühlberger. The article describes images captured from camera traps located outside the cave that show more than ten different species entering and feeding on the bats. This research provides new evidence about how humans may be coming into contact with Marburg virus, and how we can prevent future outbreaks of the disease.