The time between the emergence of symptoms and death is typically 48 hours in most cases, which is highly concerning, according to Serge Ngalebato, the medical director of Bikoro Hospital, a regional monitoring center.
The latest outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo began on January 21, with 419 recorded cases and 53 deaths.
According to the WHO’s Africa office, the initial outbreak in the town of Boloko started after three children consumed a bat and died within 48 hours with symptoms of hemorrhagic fever.
For a long time, there have been concerns about diseases spreading from animals to humans in areas where wild animals are commonly consumed. The WHO stated that such outbreaks have increased by more than 60% in Africa over the past decade.
Following the second outbreak of the current unidentified disease in the town of Bomate on February 9, samples from 13 cases have been sent to the National Institute for Biomedical Research in Congo’s capital, Kinshasa, for testing, as per the WHO.
All samples tested negative for Ebola or other common hemorrhagic fever diseases like Marburg. Some samples tested positive for malaria.
In the previous year, another mystery flu-like illness caused numerous deaths in a different part of Congo and was believed to be likely due to malaria.
Source: https://time.com/7261328/mystery-illness-congo-outbreak-disease/
