A total of 419 cases of a mystery illness which has killed 53 people so far have been reported in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, featuring symptoms similar to haemorrhagic fevers
More than 50 people have been killed by an unknown fast-acting illness according to doctors on the ground, with a horrifying list of symptoms reported.
In most cases, people have died just 48 hours after developing symptoms, something which has been described as “really worrying” by Serge Ngalebato, medical director of the Bikoro Hospital, a regional monitoring centre in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The outbreak of the mystery illness began on January 21, with 419 cases recorded so far, including 53 deaths.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO)’s Africa office, the first outbreak was reported in the town of Boloko after three children ate a bat and died within 48 hours of developing haemorrhagic fever symptoms. Concerns about diseases jumping from animals to humans have long been recorded in areas where wild animals are commonly eaten.
The number of such outbreaks in Africa has spiked by more than 60% in the last decade, the WHO said in 2022. A second outbreak of the current unknown illness began in the town of Bomate on February 9, from which samples from 13 cases have been sent to the National Institute for Biomedical Research in the capital, Kinshasa, for testing.
So far, all the samples have tested negative for Ebola or other common haemorrhagic fever diseases such as Marbug, however, some did test positive for malaria. Last year, another mystery flu-like illness that killed donzens of people in another part of the country was determined to likely be malaria.
Viral haemorrhagic fever can be transmitted in numerous ways, including:
- person to person contact through direct contact with symptomatic patients, bodily fluids, or cadavers
- inadequate infection control in a hospital setting
- slaughtering practices
- consumption of raw meat from infected animals or unpasteurised milk
- direct contact with rodents, or inhalation of or contact with materials contaminated with rodent excrement
- mosquito bites or ticks
Viral haemorrhagic fevers (VHF) include Ebola, Marburg, Lassa fever, Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever, Rif Valley fever and Alkhurma haemorrhagic fever. Signs and symptoms of haemorrhagic fever vary depending on the type of VHF, but often include:
- Fever
- Fatigue
- Dizziness
- Muscle aches
- Loss of strength and exhaustion
- Bleeding under the skin
- Internal bleeding
- Bleeding from orifices such as mouth, eyes and ears
- Signs of shock
- Nervous system malfunction
- Coma delirium
- Seizures