What is this “unknown” disease that is hitting the DRC?

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A mysterious disease has killed at least 27 people in a little over a month in the southwest of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), we learned on Wednesday, December 4, 2024 from the health authorities of this country. Central Africa.

An underestimated number of deaths

“An unknown public health event” detected since October 24 has “already caused the death of 27 people out of a total of 382 people affected», According to the National Institute of Public Health in a report dating from Tuesday evening and communicated to AFP.

The cases were reported in the Panzi region, with limited health facilities, located some 700 km southeast of the capital Kinshasa. The disease, which causes fever, headache and cough, has so far affected people of all ages, including children.

According to local authorities, however, the toll could be higher: “civil society and the head doctor of the Panzi health zone have reported the loss of 67 human lives,” declared the provincial Minister of Health, Apollinaire Yumba.

A team of epidemiologists was sent to the site, added Apollinaire Yumba, calling on the population not to panic and to limit movements.

WHO is monitoring the situation

“Entrances and exits into this health zone must be limited, (we must) avoid greeting each other by shaking hands, wash our hands regularly,” he urged.

The WHO told theAFP working with the Congolese authorities “to understand the situation” and also sent a team there “to collect samples for laboratory analysis”.

The DRC has already been hit hard in recent months by the mpox virus with more than 1,000 deaths. The epicenter of the epidemic, one of the poorest countries on the planet, has recently seen the number of cases of this disease – formerly called monkeypox – decrease slightly.

With AFP

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