The world endured a pandemic that brought with it unprecedented levels of lockdowns and other curbs
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But scientists have found a cave in Africa that they think could be an incubator for zoonotic diseases
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Kitum Cave is located on the slopes of Mount Elgon, a dormant volcano on the border between Kenya and Uganda
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It gained notoriety due to its association with the Marburg, a highly infectious and potentially deadly virus similar to Ebola
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The virus is believed to have been transmitted to humans from infected bats that inhabit the cave
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Researchers have hypothesised that the body fluids or excretions of bats may have contained the virus and infected those who ventured into the cave
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The outbreak occurred in 1980 when several individuals, including a French engineer, became infected after visiting the cave
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In 1987, a Danish schoolboy explored the same cave during a family vacation, and he died of a related hemorrhagic virus, now called Ravn virus
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Last year, WHO teams were deployed across Africa to halt another outbreak of Marburg, which has since been discovered in other caves across the continent
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Doctors in the US are also being warned to be on the lookout for imported cases, sparking fears that the virus may be spreading under the radar
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Marburg virus has been touted as a next big pandemic threat, with the WHO describing it as "epidemic prone"