A mysterious illness has claimed the lives of over 50 people in northwestern Congo, with health officials raising alarms due to the rapid onset and fatality of the disease. According to local doctors and the World Health Organization (WHO), the outbreak, which began in late January, has seen 419 reported cases, with 53 deaths as of Monday.
Serge Ngalebato, the medical director of Bikoro Hospital, a key monitoring center for the region, shared concerning details about the illness. “The interval between the onset of symptoms and death has been 48 hours in most cases, and that’s what’s really worrying,” he told The Associated Press. The disease’s swift progression is causing great concern among health professionals.
The outbreak began on January 21 in the town of Boloko, where three children died after consuming bat meat and developing symptoms of hemorrhagic fever within hours. This has led to fears about the spread of diseases from animals to humans, especially in areas where wild animals, such as bats, are commonly consumed.
The WHO’s Africa office has reported a rise in such disease outbreaks in recent years, with cases of zoonotic diseases—diseases that are transmitted from animals to humans—surging by over 60% in Africa over the past decade.
A second wave of the disease was reported on February 9 in the town of Bomate. In response, health officials sent samples from 13 cases to the National Institute for Biomedical Research in the capital, Kinshasa, for testing. Initial results have ruled out common hemorrhagic fever diseases such as Ebola and Marburg. However, some samples tested positive for malaria.
Health authorities continue to investigate the origins of the illness, as the situation remains fluid. Last year, a similar outbreak of a flu-like illness in a different region of Congo was later linked to malaria, raising hopes that this outbreak may not be as deadly as initially feared. Nonetheless, the rapid spread of the disease and its high fatality rate have prompted urgent efforts to contain it and protect the population from further harm.
