Kitum Cave, Mt Elgon National Park, Uganda the deadliest cave on Earth. To try everything Brilliant has to offer—free—for a full 30 days, visit http://brilliant.org/DrBenMiles/. The first 200 of you will get 20% off Brilliant’s annual premium subscription. Kitum Cave has been surrounded for decades by mysterious outbreaks that strikes suddenly and disappear without a trace. It may be home and potentially even the origin of Marburg Virus, Ravn Virus, and the Ebola Virus, making it the deadliest cave in the world. 0:00 A Mysterious Sickness 1:41 Kitum Cave - The Deadliest Cave In the World 5:18 Ad Segment 6:17 Marburg and Ebola Virus - Vanishing Killers 8:20 The Search for the Culprit 11:36 A Break in the Case 12:22 An Illusive Subject 14:57 The Perfect Carrier This video was sponsored by Brilliant. Interested in what I do? Sign up to my Newsletter. 100% free forever and good for the environment. https://drbenmiles.substack.com/ My Links: https://www.instagram.com/drbenmiles/ A few people have asked so I've added the info below. Some of these are affiliate links. If you make a purchase it doesn't cost you anything extra, but a percentage of the sale will help support this channel and my work to bringing entrepreneurship into science. My gear: My camera : https://amzn.to/3ed5Xac My lens: https://amzn.to/3xIAZyA My lav: https://amzn.to/2SeE20Y and https://amzn.to/3nK33wA My mic: https://amzn.to/3gUYYEv
ADVERTISEMENT
Wow, this was one of the most interesting "docu-drama" videos I've seen in quite a while. Thanks for all your work to make it!
Whos here from tiktok
Great video! The story of Kitum Cave and the search for the host is told in even more detail in The Hot Zone by Richard Preston
We just missed visiting that cave coz of time , 2 weeks ago and damn I didn't know it's this deadly , won't be playing in these caves anymore
You had me hooked halfway through then dropped the dog pun and I’m absolutely sold on your channel. Thank you
Well, that did away with my desire to explore caves!
Excellent, thanks. I collaborate often with chiropterologists here in Jamaica, most recently for five days last week with a couple of guys from N America working on their PhD's. Fortunately, all we have to worry about is histoplasmosis, which doesn't trouble me (presumably immune at this point having been exposed when very young back in Canada, and having been in over 400 caves here). The local people mostly consider bats ugly and evil, so we do our best to stress the benefits (cross-pollination, dispersing seeds, eating agricultural pests). But what we never mention is that in some parts of the world, they're vectors and reservoirs for a lot of very nasty diseases (along with what you mentioned, there's also rabies, although not here). Coincidentally, when discussing that with one of the PhD students, he also talked about how important it is to study their resistance to viruses to help humans do the same. This video has helped to reinforce it. Much appreciated. RS Stewart - Jamaican Caves Organisation.
The best video on Kitum Cave on the internet, thank you 😊
bruh.. the dude lifting his mask with his gloves while touching a carcass made me twitch.
Hey guys, organising a field trip if anyone wants to join me... Also - check out todays sponsor: Brilliant - to try everything Brilliant has to offer—free—for a full 30 days, visit /DrBenMiles/. The first 200 of you will get 20% off Brilliant’s annual premium subscription.
I'm so glad the animals didn't get sick from the cave
Your geography is wrong the Cave itself is in Kenya Whereas the Park and Mountain are both in Uganda and Kenya
Wonderful & informative article! Enjoyed it enough to subscribe. Keep them coming 😊
Brilliant! And scary….
The abyss has many different curses depending on which layer you return from.
WOW! This blew my mind! Bats, who would have thought?! Thank you so much for your insightful, intriguing and entertaining input! The bio geek in me was overjoyed watching this video. I'm your newest fan! :)
This is the kind of news that should be spread world wide. The more people that know, the better our chances of finding a solution. When someone gets sick from these viruses the news is world wide. In this age of technology I think there's are people out there who can eradicate these viruses. We don't want to discover too late they figured out how to mutate.
You are so WRONG😂😂😂 . KITUM is in KENYA.
Recommended reading: "The Hot Zone" and "Crisis in the Red Zone" both by Richard Preston. Well written and answers all of the questions posed by the author of this video, who is offering misinformation mixed with some facts.
Watched the 2025 internet apocalypse, which I found interesting and well done, so chose to view another Dr Ben video, this one. I do appreciate skepticism and realistic analysis, and found that I liked the concise explanation and presentation regarding viral reservoirs at Kitum Cave. Finding information that doesn't "hype" and sticks to facts is difficult. So, I subscribed. Looking forward to watching more.