Congo says the mysterious disease behind the deaths of dozens of women and children has finally been identified as severe malaria
Johannesburg – For weeks it was simply called “Disease X”. But a mysterious flu-like illness The crime that killed more than 143 people, mostly women and young children, in the Democratic Republic of Congo has finally been identified.
“The mystery has finally been solved,” Congo’s health ministry said in a statement on Tuesday. “This is a severe case of malaria in the form of a respiratory illness.”
The health agency said food shortages in the worst-hit region have weakened the immunity of local people and made them more vulnerable to disease. People infected with malaria exhibited symptoms such as headache, fever, cough and body aches.
Congo’s health minister told reporters the country was on “maximum alert” over the outbreak of the previously unknown disease, and health officials told CBS News in early December that the remoteness of the outbreak’s epicenter and the lack of diagnosis made it difficult. Start working on an agreed upon response.
Correspondent Samy Ntumba/AP
At least 592 cases have been reported since the alert was first raised by the Congolese Ministry of Health on October 29. The ministry said the death rate of the disease is 6.25%. According to the World Health Organization, more than half of the recorded deaths are children under the age of five who were severely malnourished when they contracted the disease.
At a Dec. 10 press briefing, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said 10 out of 12 samples from patients suffering from the mystery illness had tested positive for malaria, but he said they were still testing for other diseases.
The Congolese government sent a rapid response team of epidemiologists and other medical experts to Kwango province, 435 miles southeast of the capital, Kinshasa. Their goal was to identify the disease and provide an appropriate response. Government officials had previously warned locals not to touch infected people or the bodies of the dead.
The Congo has been plagued by many diseases in recent years, including typhus, malaria and anemia. The country also faced a problem mpox epidemicAccording to the WHO, there are more than 47,000 suspected cases and more than 1,000 suspected deaths.
WHO-provided antimalarial drugs were being distributed at local health centers in Congo, and WHO officials said on Wednesday that more supplies would arrive in the country.
It’s the rainy season in Congo, which often sees malaria cases rise, and will certainly make it harder to treat those most at risk.
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