Unknown disease kills 143 in the Congo sparking fresh pandemic fears

An unknown disease has killed 143 people in the Congo in an outbreak that has alarmed health officials and the World Health Organization.

Patients suffered from flu-like symptoms, including a high fever and severe headache, local officials say, with women and children reported to be most seriously 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, deputy governor of the province, and Apollinaire Yumba, its minister of health said health officials are collecting samples and carrying out an analysis in order to identify the disease behind the outbreak.

Officials say the situation is ‘extremely worrying’ and that the death toll is rising rapidly. On November 25, they had reported 67 deaths from the disease.

Patients suffering from the illness are reportedly dying in their own homes and struggling to receive treatment. The DRC is also currently facing a monkeypox outbreak.

Health officials are yet to report any results from the tests, and it is not clear whether patients have tested negative for other common diseases.

The above map shows the DRC, and highlights the province of Kwango where the outbreak has been recorded

There has also been no data released on the number of patients suspected to have been infected or hospitalized in the outbreak.

It is not clear what disease could be causing the deaths, but the DRC has now battled more than 12 outbreaks of Ebola.

The virus, which can be caught from fruit bats, causes a flu-like illness before patients suffer from nausea, bleeding and brain problems. In one outbreak declared in 2019, more than 3,250 cases and 2,100 deaths were reported.

The DRC is also currently battling a major outbreak of a more deadly strain of monkeypox, that has already sickened 12,500 people and caused 581 deaths.

Infections have been detected across the country, including in the province that is recording the mysterious disease outbreak.

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 people continues to rise, civil society leader Cephorien Manzanza said. 

‘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 seriously affected by the disease.

A WHO spokesperson said on Tuesday the UN health agency had been alerted to the presence of the disease last week, and it was working alongside Congo’s public health ministry to make further investigations.

The country was rocked by a failed presidential coup earlier this year, which led to a British citizen and three American citizens being sentence to death by a military court.