Johannesburg — For weeks it was simply called “Disease X.” But the mysterious flu-like illness It has finally been identified as having killed more than 143 people, mostly women and young children, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
“The mystery has finally been solved,” Congo’s health ministry said in a statement on Tuesday. “It is a case of severe malaria in the form of a respiratory disease.”
The health agency said malnutrition in the worst-hit region had weakened the local population’s immunity, leaving them more vulnerable to the disease. People who contracted the malaria infection have presented with symptoms such as headache, fever, cough and body aches.
Congo’s health minister had told reporters the country was on “high alert” for the spread of the previously unidentified disease, and health officials told CBS News in early December that the remoteness of the epicenter of the outbreak and the lack of a diagnosis made it difficult. to launch a concerted response.
Correspondent Samy Ntumba/AP
At least 592 cases were reported after Congo’s health ministry first issued the alert on October 29. The ministry said the disease had a fatality rate of 6.25 percent. More than half of the recorded deaths were children under the age of five who were severely malnourished when they contracted the disease, according to the World Health Organization.
At a press conference on December 10, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said 10 of 12 samples from patients suffering from the mystery disease had tested positive for malaria, but said they were still testing at the time for other diseases.
The Congolese government had sent a rapid response team to Kwango province, 435 miles southeast of the capital Kinshasa, made up of epidemiologists and other medical experts. Their goal was to identify the disease and mount an appropriate response. Government officials had earlier warned locals to avoid touching people infected with the disease or the bodies of the dead.
Congo has suffered many disease outbreaks in recent years, including typhoid, malaria and anemia. The country has also struggled with a smallpox outbreakwith more than 47,000 suspected cases and more than 1,000 suspected deaths from the disease, according to the WHO.
Malaria drugs provided by the WHO were being distributed to local health centers in Congo, and WHO officials said more medical supplies should arrive in the country on Wednesday.
It is the rainy season in the Congo, which often sees an increase in malaria cases and will undoubtedly complicate the treatment of those most at risk.
