Johannesburg – For weeks it was simply called ‘Disease But the mysterious flu-like illness that has claimed the lives of 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,” the Congolese Ministry of Health 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 has weakened the immunity of local people, making them more vulnerable to the disease. People who have contracted the malaria infection show symptoms such as headache, fever, coughing and body aches.
Congo’s health minister had told journalists that the country was on “maximum alert” about the spread 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 a diagnosis made it difficult made to launch a joint response.
Samy Ntumba Shambuyi/AP
At least 592 cases were reported after the alarm was first raised by Congo’s Ministry of Health on October 29. The ministry said the disease had a mortality rate of 6.25%. According to the World Health Organization, more than half of recorded deaths were in children under the age of five who were severely malnourished when they contracted the disease.
At a press conference on December 10, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that 10 of 12 samples from patients suffering from the mysterious disease had tested positive for malaria, but he said they were still being tested at the time on other diseases.
The Congolese government had sent a rapid intervention team to Kwango province, 700 kilometers southeast of the capital Kinshasa, consisting of epidemiologists and other medical experts. Their goal was to identify the disease and mount an appropriate response. Government officials had previously warned locals not to touch people infected with the disease or the bodies of deceased people.
Congo has suffered many disease outbreaks in recent years, including typhoid, malaria and anemia. The country has also faced one mpox outbreakwith more than 47,000 suspected cases and more than 1,000 suspected deaths from the disease, according to the WHO.
WHO-provided anti-malarial drugs were distributed at local health centers in Congo, and WHO officials said more medical supplies would arrive in the country on Wednesday.
It is the rainy season in Congo, which often sees a rise in malaria cases, and this will certainly complicate treatment of those most at risk.
Sarah Carter
