A mystery disease is sweeping through an African country, and is feared to have killed dozens of people in just two weeks.
The unknown condition has been ravaging the population of the huge central African nation of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which has previously been linked to other outbreaks of deadly diseases.
In 2022, the country was hit by an outbreak of the terrifying haemorrhaging virus Ebola, which causes patients to bleed profusely from the ears, eyes and nose and mouth.
The nation has also seen more recent outbreaks of mpox, a condition which leaves sufferers covered in large pustules and sores.
The latest disease spike is understood to have been recorded between November 10 and 25 in the Panzi health zone of Kwango province. Symptoms included fever, headache, cough and anaemia, the provincial health minister, Apollinaire Yumba, told reporters.
The area of the breakout is close to the DRC’s border with Angola, in the south west of the country.
The deputy provincial governor, Rémy Saki, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that between 67 and 143 people had died.
Civil society leader Cephorien Manzanza said: “The situation is extremely worrying as the number of infected people continues to rise. Panzi is a rural health zone, so there is a problem with the supply of medicines.”
The DRC is still reeling from mpox which has been widely circulating in recent months and there have been cases reported in Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Sweden, India and Germany.
A report from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said there had been more than 40,000 mpox cases linked to almost 1,000 deaths in Africa as of the end of September 2024, with mpox Clades Ia, Ib and II circulating in the region.
In August WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus declared a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) for the DRC.
He said at the time: “The emergence of a new clade of mpox, its rapid spread in eastern DRC, and the reporting of cases in several neighbouring countries are very worrying.
“On top of outbreaks of other mpox clades in DRC and other countries in Africa, it’s clear that a coordinated international response is needed to stop these outbreaks and save lives.”
