An unknown illness that first emerged late last month in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has spread, killing more than 50 people over the past five weeks, reports the Associated Press (AP).
In most cases, the interval between the onset of symptoms and death has been 48 hours, and “that’s what’s really worrying,” Serge Ngalebato, medical director of Bikoro Hospital, a regional monitoring centre, told the AP.
The outbreak began in the village of Boloko, with three small children. The children, all under five years old, quickly progressed from common symptoms including fever and fatigue, to haemorrhagic signs like nosebleeds and vomiting blood. All three died within 48 hours after reportedly consuming a dead bat. Consumption of wild animals has long raised concerns about diseases jumping from animals to humans. The number of such outbreaks in Africa has skyrocketed in recent years, up more than 60 percent between 2012 and 2022, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
As of 16 February, according to a WHO bulletin, the unknown illness has been linked to 431 cases and 53 deaths in two outbreaks across remote villages in the northwestern Congolese province of Équateur.
[See more: A deadly cholera outbreak is sweeping across Angola]
After the children died, other cases were found in Boloko, then in nearby Dondo village, with similar symptoms. Then a second outbreak emerged on 9 February in Bomate village. Within a week, there were 419 cases, far exceeding the 12 cases seen in the original outbreak, although far fewer cases resulted in deaths, just 10 percent (45) compared to 67 percent (8) in Boloko and Dondo.
According to the WHO, no links have been established between the two clusters of cases. “We are looking into whether it is another infection or whether it is some toxic agent. We have to see what can be done and at what point WHO can support,” Tarik Jašarević, a WHO spokesperson, said in a briefing on Tuesday. He emphasised that the rapidly spreading disease poses “a significant public health threat”, noting that the remote villages have limited surveillance capacity and health infrastructure.
After the second outbreak began, samples from 13 cases were sent to the National Institute for Biomedical Research in Kinshasa for testing. All came back negative for common haemorrhagic fever diseases, including Ebola and Marburg, although some samples tested positive for malaria.
An outbreak of an unknown flu-like illness last year that killed dozens in another part of the DRC was eventually determined to likely be malaria. Health teams are currently investigating other potential causes, including malaria, food poisoning, typhoid, meningitis or other viral haemorrhagic fevers.
