WHAT WAS CLAIMED
The Marburg virus is a snake venom protein.
OUR VERDICT
False. The virus has no evolutionary or scientific link to snake venom proteins.
AAP FACTCHECK - The Marburg virus has been falsely identified as a "snake venom protein" in social media posts warning about a new pandemic.
Experts say the Marburg virus has no evolutionary or scientific link proteins in snake venoms and is unlikely to spread globally.
Marburg virus disease, a severe hemorrhagic fever that has a high mortality rate, broke out in Tanzania in January 2025.
In a Facebook reel, a man falsely claims the virus is a snake venom protein that will cause the next pandemic.
"So there's this new pandemic you're going to hear it's coming out of China, and they're going to call it the Marburg virus," the man said.
"Marburg virus is actually going to be a completely different snake venom protein that causes internal bleeding and external bleeding."
The video then showed another man claiming pathogens contained in "shots that people already received" would be released when the 5G system broadcasts a specific signal, causing "a Marburg epidemic".
Another Facebook post shares the video with the caption: "MARBURG Virus...Boom/snake/venom!!!!"
"New snake venom shots called Vaccines will cause the new Marburg virus!!" one Facebook post said:
Virologist Kari Debbink, from Johns Hopkins University, told AAP FactCheck that the Marburg virus was not a new disease and it had not emerged in China.
She said the virus was first identified in 1967 in lab workers in Marburg, Germany, and in Belgrade, Serbia, who had handled monkeys from Uganda.
Professor Eddie Holmes, a virologist from the University of Sydney, said there had been multiple documented Marburg outbreaks since the virus was identified.
He described the claim as "idiotic nonsense" because the virus has no evolutionary relationship to any protein found in reptiles.
"They evolved independently," Prof Holmes told AAP FactCheck.
"Indeed, human proteins are closer to those found in snakes than Marburg virus is."
Emeritus Professor John Mackenzie, a virology expert at Curtin University, said Marburg was a type of "filovirus" related to Ebola, and its natural host was believed to be the Egyptian fruit bat.
"It has absolutely no relationship with snake venom as far as I am aware of," he told AAP FactCheck.
Dr Debbink said while the virus and snake venoms caused internal hemorrhaging, they did so via different mechanisms.
She said snake venom toxins typically break down blood capillaries directly, while Marburg disregulates the immune system, damaging blood vessels and interrupting normal clotting.
"Not to mention that the time course to hemorrhagic symptoms for Marburg virus is several days after infection (following many other characteristic symptoms), whereas for snake venom it's immediate," Dr Dibbink told AAP FactCheck via email.
"There is no plausible scientific link between the two."
She said the Marburg virus was transmitted through direct contact with bodily fluids from an infected person, so it would likely be controlled quickly if it was spread outside of a country where an outbreak first occurred.
"This makes it easier to detect and isolate infected people compared to respiratory pathogens (which tend to cause most pandemics)," Dr Dibbink said.
"The response to travel-related spread of Marburg would be similar to that of Ebola, in which countries quickly developed healthcare screenings to identify potential cases and treat the patients."
Reuters Fact Check has previously debunked claims about COVID-19 and snake venoms.
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