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Death toll rises as cases of mystery illness in Congo reaches 1000
Health officials are still trying to understand what may be behind a mystery disease outbreak that has surpassed 1,000 cases and killed at least 60 people in northwest Congo.
Nearly 1,100 cases have been reported since the outbreaks were first discovered in two villages more than 100 miles apart in late January, and the death toll has risen by at least seven in recent days.
While malaria — a mosquito-borne disease — is prevalent in Congo‘s Equateur province, the World Health Organization has not yet ruled out other causes.
The U.N. health agency said in an update Thursday that It is unclear if the outbreaks are related.
“Detailed epidemiological and clinical investigations, as well as further laboratory testing, are (still) needed,” WHO’s Africa office said.
Africa’s top public health agency said infections have been detected in at least five villages and the agency is investigating whether water or food could be the cause of the infections, along with flu and typhoid.
However, tests are “pointing toward malaria,” Dr. Ngashi Ngongo of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in an online briefing on Thursday.
The first infections – and their symptoms
The first outbreak was detected in the village of Boloko after three children ate a bat and died within 48 hours.
WHO has recorded 12 cases and eight deaths in Boloko. Nearly half of the people who died did so within hours of the onset of symptoms, health officials said this week.
The village of Bomate, which is about 200 kilometers (125 miles) from Boloko, has been hardest hit: 98 per cent of the cases and 86 per cent of deaths have been recorded in Bomate in the Basankusu health zone, WHO said. Of 571 patients in Basankusu who were tested for malaria, 309 — 54.1 per cent — tested positive, it said.
Patients have shown common malaria symptoms such as fever and body aches. Other symptoms include chills, sweating, stiff neck, runny or bleeding nose, cough, vomiting and diarrhoea.
Sickness breeds fear among residents
Eddy Djoboke said he and his family fled Bomate because they were afraid of falling sick. After they left, one of his children complained his neck and stomach hurt, suggesting he may have been infected before they fled.
“We were asked to have tests done and we are waiting for what happens next,” Djoboke said.
Marthe Biyombe, said her child became infected in Bomate and was suffering from body aches and fever. She said the hospital struggled to treat her child because of a lack of medication, but that she was able to buy drugs privately and WHO doctors eventually arrived with more supplies.
–INDEPENDENT–