An unknown disease has killed more than 50 people: only hours between symptoms and death

An unknown disease has killed more than 50 people: only hours between symptoms and death

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An unknown disease has killed more than 50 people in northwestern Congo, according to reports from doctors on the ground and the World Health Organization.

“In most cases, the interval between the onset of symptoms and death was 48 hours, and this is what is really worrying,” Serge Ngalebato, medical director of Bikoro Hospital, a regional monitoring center, told the agency in an interview.

The latest outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo began on January 21, and 419 cases have already been reported, including 53 deaths.

According to the WHO African Office, the first outbreak in Boloko began after three children ate a bat and died within 48 hours of developing symptoms of hemorrhagic fever.

There have long been fears that diseases are spreading from animals to humans in places where it is popular to eat wild animals. According to WHO 2022, several such outbreaks in Africa have increased by more than 60% over the past decade.

After the second outbreak of the current mysterious disease began on February 9 in the city of Bomate, samples from 13 cases were sent to the National Institute of Biomedical Research in the Congolese capital, Kinshasa, for testing.

All samples tested negative for Ebola or other common hemorrhagic fevers such as Marburg. Some were positive for malaria.

Last year, another mysterious flu-like illness that killed dozens of people in another part of the Congo was found to be probably malaria.

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