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Everyone planning international travel early in 2025 should review the travel health notices issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Travel health notices often follow international outbreaks. Two such outbreak notices are for Marburg virus disease in Rwanda and for pox in Central and Eastern Africa.
The Republic of Rwanda has confirmed more than 60 cases of Marburg virus disease (Marburg) primarily associated with hospitals in Kigali, including some deaths. This is the country’s first Marburg outbreak.
Marburg is a rare but severe viral hemorrhagic fever, similar to Ebola, that can cause serious illness and death. No cases of Marburg related to this outbreak have been reported outside of Rwanda.
The risk of infection with this virus in the United States is low.
There are two types of pox: clade I and clade II. Clade II is the cause of the ongoing global outbreak that started in 2022, and clade I is the cause of a current outbreak in Central and Eastern Africa.
Clade II mpox is endemic to West Africa.
After a peak in cases in the summer of 2022, the number of cases of the clade II pox outbreak had decreased by early 2023 and continues to be reported at low levels in many countries today.
Clade II mpox is considered less severe than clade I mpox, and more than 99 percent of people survive their infection.
A total of 3154 Clade I and clade II cases in the United States have resulted in ten deaths.
CDC’s 2025 International Travel Health Notices
Level 2 – Clade I Mpox in Central and Eastern Africa
DEC 2024
Level 2 – Chikungunya in India
DEC 2024
Level 1 – East African Sleeping Sickness in Zambia and Zimbabwe
DEC 2024
Level 1 – Oropouche in the Americas
DEC 2024
DEC 2024
DEC 2024
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Dan Flynn