An unknown illness has killed more than 50 people in the north-west of the Democratic Republic of the Congo , according to doctors on the ground and the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The interval between the onset of symptoms and death has been 48 hours in the majority of cases, and “that’s what’s really worrying,” said Serge Ngalebato, medical director of the Bikoro Hospital, a regional monitoring centre. The outbreak began on January 21, and 419 cases have been recorded, including 53 deaths.
According to the WHO’s Africa office, the first outbreak in the town of Boloko began after three children had eaten a bat and died within 48 hours following haemorrhagic fever symptoms. There have long been concerns about diseases jumping from animals to humans in places where wild animals are popularly eaten.
The number of such outbreaks in Africa has surged by more than 60% in the last decade, the WHO said in 2022. After the second outbreak of the current mystery disease began in the town of Bomate on February 9, samples from 13 cases have been sent to the National Institute for Biomedical Research in the capital, Kinshasa, for testing, the WHO said.
All samples have been negative for Ebola or other common haemorrhagic fever diseases such as Marburg. Some tested positive for malaria. Last year, another mystery flu-like illness that killed dozens of people in another part of the country was determined to be likely malaria.