A mysterious disease has killed dozens of people in the Democratic Republic of Congo, local authorities have said.
The illness is believed to have killed between 67 and 143 people, in the Panzi health zone of Kwango province in the southwest of the country, according to the deputy provincial governor, Remy Saki.
A local epidemiologist told the Reuters news agency that women and children were the most seriously affected by the disease.
The country’s Ministry of Public Health, Hygiene and Social Security said in a post on X that reported symptoms include a fever, headache, cough and runny nose, difficulty breathing and anaemia.
It said in order to provide a “rapid and effective response” to the “worrying situation” the ministry has dispatched a “rapid intervention team” to the affected area.
The aim of the team will be to collect samples and carry out analysis to try and identify the disease.
‘Extremely worrying’
The situation was called “extremely worrying” by civil society leader Cephorien Manzanza, who told Reuters that the number of infected people continues to rise.
“Panzi is a rural health zone, so there is a problem with the supply of medicines,” Mr Manzanza said.
Sick people are believed to be dying in their homes due to a lack of treatment.
The health ministry warned that the bodies of those who have died should not be handled without the involvement of authorities, Sky News’ US partner network NBC News reported.
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People have also been advised to avoid mass gatherings and observe basic rules of hygiene, including washing hands regularly with soap and water.
The ministry said it “expresses its deep compassion to the families affected by this tragedy and sends them its most sincere condolences”.
A World Health Organization 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.
Identifying the illness may be complicated
Anne Rimoin, an epidemiologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, who has worked in Congo since 2002, told NBC that diagnosing the illness may be complicated by the limited health care infrastructure in the country.
She said underlying health issues, including malaria and malnutrition, are also present in some of the population.
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Dr Abraar Karan, an infectious disease physician at Stanford Medicine, added the outbreak “does raise alarm bells” because of its location.
He said interactions between humans and wildlife in Congo increase the risk of a pathogen spilling over from animals.
“Many animal infections that transmit from animal to human can cause pretty severe disease,” he said.
