An unknown disease has killed 143 people in Congo in an outbreak that has alarmed health officials and the World Health Organization.
Patients suffered flu-like symptoms, including high fever and severe headache, local officials say, with women and children being the most severely affected.
Deaths are being recorded in Kwango province, in the southwest of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and on its border with Angola.
Remy Saki, the province’s deputy governor, and Apollinaire Yumba, its health minister, said health officials are collecting samples and conducting analysis to identify the disease behind the outbreak.
Authorities say the situation is “extremely worrying” and the death toll is rising rapidly. On November 25, they had reported 67 deaths from the disease.
Patients suffering from the disease reportedly die in their own homes and struggle to receive treatment. The Democratic Republic of the Congo is also currently facing an outbreak of monkeypox.
Health officials have not yet reported test results and it is unclear whether patients have tested negative for other common illnesses.
The above shows a child being treated for monkeypox in North Kivu province, eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, on August 15, 2024.
The map above shows the Democratic Republic of the Congo and highlights the Kwango province where the outbreak occurred.
Data on the number of patients suspected of having been infected or hospitalized during the outbreak has also not been published.
It is unclear what disease could be causing the deaths, but the Democratic Republic of the Congo has already battled more than 12 Ebola outbreaks.
The virus, which can be contracted from fruit bats, causes a flu-like illness before patients suffer nausea, bleeding and brain problems. In an outbreak declared in 2019, more than 3,250 cases and 2,100 deaths were reported.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is also currently battling a major outbreak of a deadlier strain of monkeypox, which has already sickened 12,500 people and caused 581 deaths.
Infections have been detected throughout the country, including the province that is experiencing the mysterious outbreak of the disease.
Officials in that province have not said whether they have ruled out monkeypox as the potential cause.
The situation is extremely worrying as the number of infected continues to increase, said civil society leader Cephorien Manzanza.
“Panzi is a rural health zone, so there is a problem with the supply of medicines,” he added.
A local epidemiologist said women and children were the most severely affected by the disease.
A WHO spokesperson said Tuesday that the U.N. health agency had been alerted to the presence of the disease last week and was working alongside Congo’s Public Health Ministry to conduct further investigations.
The country was rocked by a failed presidential coup earlier this year, which led to a military court sentencing a British citizen and three American citizens to death.