(Adnkronos) – A mysterious illness has killed more than 50 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Medical sources quoted by Sky News said that most of the deaths occurred within 48 hours of the onset of symptoms in infected individuals. “This is what is really worrying,” commented Serge Ngalebato, medical director of Bikoro Hospital.
The World Health Organization (WHO) Africa office said the first outbreak of this unknown disease broke out on January 21 in the city of Boloko, northwestern Congo, after three children ate a bat and died with symptoms of hemorrhagic fever. Since that episode there have been 419 cases and 53 deaths. The second outbreak of the mysterious disease broke out in the city of Bomate on February 9. WHO said samples from 13 cases were sent for testing at the National Institute for Biomedical Research in Kinshasa. All samples have tested negative for Ebola or other common hemorrhagic fever diseases such as Marburg. Some tested positive for malaria.
Last year, another mysterious flu-like illness, judged by experts to be a severe form of malaria, killed dozens of people in another area of the Congo. Scientists, however, are concerned about diseases that are transmitted from animals to humans in places where wild animals are eaten. According to 2022 WHO data, the number of these types of epidemics in Africa has increased by more than 60% in the last decade.
