An unknown illness, first discovered in three children who consumed a bat, has rapidly killed more than 50 people in northwestern Congo over the past five weeks, health experts report.
The symptoms include fever, vomiting, and internal bleeding, with death occurring within 48 hours in most cases. \\"That's what's really worrying,\\" said Serge Ngalebato, medical director of Bikoro Hospital, a regional monitoring center.
These \\"hemorrhagic fever\\" symptoms are commonly associated with known deadly viruses such as Ebola, dengue, Marburg, and yellow fever. However, researchers have ruled these out based on tests of more than a dozen samples collected so far.
The latest disease outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo began on January 21, with 419 cases recorded and 53 deaths.
According to the Africa office of the World Health Organization (WHO), the outbreak started in the village of Boloko after three children ate a bat and died within 48 hours.
There have long been concerns about diseases jumping from animals to humans in regions where wild animals are commonly consumed. The number of such outbreaks in Africa has surged by more than 60 percent in the last decade, the WHO stated in 2022.
After the second outbreak of the mystery disease began in the village of Bomate on February 9, samples from 13 cases were sent to the National Institute for Biomedical Research in Congo's capital, Kinshasa, for testing, the WHO reported. All samples tested negative for common hemorrhagic fever diseases, although some tested positive for malaria.
Last year, another mystery flu-like illness that killed dozens in another part of Congo was determined likely to be malaria.
Reference(s):
cgtn.com
