KINSHASA, Congo — A mysterious illness has claimed more than 50 lives in northwestern Congo, as reported by local healthcare workers and the World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday.
Serge Ngalebato, the medical director of Bikoro Hospital, which serves as a regional monitoring hub, expressed concern over the situation, noting that the time from the onset of symptoms to death has typically been just 48 hours. “That’s what’s really worrying,” he stated.
The recent outbreak, which emerged on January 21 in the Democratic Republic of Congo, has led to 419 recorded cases with 53 fatalities.
According to WHO’s Africa office, the outbreak in Boloko began after three children consumed a bat and succumbed to hemorrhagic fever symptoms within two days.
The persistent transmission of diseases from animals to humans, particularly in regions where wild animals are often consumed, has been a growing concern. WHO highlighted in 2022 that such outbreaks have risen by over 60% across Africa during the past decade.
Following the onset of another outbreak of the unexplained illness in Bomate on February 9, samples from 13 affected individuals have been dispatched to Congo’s capital, Kinshasa, for analysis by the National Institute for Biomedical Research, as confirmed by WHO.
It has been determined that all samples were negative for Ebola and other known hemorrhagic fevers such as Marburg. However, some tested positive for malaria.
In the preceding year, a separate enigmatic flu-like ailment that resulted in numerous deaths in another region of Congo was ultimately attributed to malaria.
