1. Introduction

1.1 Background

This document provides operational guidance for public health professionals engaged in surveillance and outbreak response to filovirus disease outbreaks, such as Ebola disease, caused by Bundibugyo virus, Ebola virus, Sudan virus and Taï Forest virus, and Marburg virus disease (MVD), caused by Marburg or Ravn virus (see Box 1).

This guidance is an update of the September 2015 emergency guideline on Implementation and management of contact tracing for Ebola virus disease: emergency guideline (1) and covers the full surveillance and epidemiological cycle from routine preparedness to active outbreak investigation and analytics. It is structured around five operational functions:

• routine surveillance in humans and wildlife
• early warning and alert systems
• outbreak investigation and contact tracing
• epidemiological analytics
• community engagement throughout all phases.

This document should be read alongside existing World Health Organization (WHO) technical documents related to filovirus diseases, in particular the Early warning alert and response in emergencies: an operational guide (2), the WHO guideline on contact tracing (3), the Diagnostic testing for Ebola disease and Marburg virus disease: interim guidance, 9 July 2026 (4), the Infection prevention and control guideline for Ebola and Marburg diseases (5) and the Integrated outbreak analytics toolkit (6). It does not replace national protocols, which should be developed in accordance with national legislation and the International Health Regulations (2005) (IHR) (7).

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Africa CDC – WHO | Filovirus Surveillance Guidance

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