A mysterious disease called “Disease X” has infected more than 400 and killed dozens of children in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
The WHO sent researchers to the remote Panzi region in the country’s southwest last week to help with the outbreak, and they have now issued their first report on the situation.
The agency said Sunday that since Oct. 24, there have been 406 cases and 31 deaths – mostly children – from the undiagnosed disease, although the true number is likely higher.
This official figure only includes patients who died in the hospital and not those who died at home.
It is still unclear exactly what is causing the illnesses. Rapid response teams on the ground say it could be pneumonia, flu, Covid, measles, malaria, E. coli infection or a combination of many of those infections occurring at the same time.
The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calls the infection “disease X” until the source is confirmed.
The WHO said the risk of the disease to people in the local area was “high”, while it rated the rest of the DRC as having a “moderate” risk.
However, internationally, the disease presents a “low” risk. The CDC has told DailyMail.com that they are willing to help the country.
2018: Congolese officials and World Health Organization officials wear protective suits while participating in Ebola virus training near the town of Beni in the North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Affected patients are mostly children under 14 years of age and suffer from a variety of flu-like symptoms, including fever, cough, fatigue and runny nose.
They said it was possible that patients were infected with more than one disease at a time and that many households in the area had little protection against malaria.
“This is a remote area with limited laboratory and other health capacity (there is no laboratory in the region), so it is possible that this is an existing pathogen that has not yet been diagnosed,” a spokesperson for the WHO. news week.
“Laboratory test results have not yet been received, so this is an undiagnosed and not unknown disease at this time.”
Of the 33 hospital deaths reported by the WHO, 71 percent occurred among children under 15 years of age and 55 percent among children under five years of age.
Fever and cough were the most common symptoms, suffered by 96.5 percent of patients.
Other common symptoms include fatigue, suffered by six in 10 percent of patients, and runny nose, suffered by 58 percent of patients.
The main symptoms of the patients who had died included difficulty breathing, signs of acute malnutrition, and anemia (or lack of healthy red blood cells).
WHO officials also noted that the area had been suffering from malnutrition since September and that the first case was reported on October 24.
The flu and Covid are among the diseases that have been mentioned as the most likely causes.
Cases appeared to peak in the week ending Nov. 9, they said, and since then the number of cases diagnosed per week has been lower.
There has been a delay in disease testing of patients in the region due to the rainy season, which meant it took two days for teams to reach the area from Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
There are also concerns that the equipment could be targeted by armed groups, which would hamper their efforts.
It comes after three countries and one territory imposed restrictions on arrivals from the affected area.
Honduras yesterday became the latest country to say it would test all new arrivals to the area for infections.
Authorities in Thailand are also closely monitoring arrivals from the area, while those in Japan have advised against “all unnecessary travel” to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Passengers arriving in Hong Kong from the area are also being screened for infections.
A passenger who arrived in the United States from Tanzania was hospitalized late last week with a “flu-like illness,” raising concerns that he may have been infected. But later reports suggested it was a “routine illness.”
A traveler in Italy was also hospitalized with a mystery illness in Italy this weekend after traveling to the country from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is unclear what they are infected with at this stage.