This condition has already claimed several victims, notably children, in a little over a month without the authorities having identified the reasons. Epidemiologists were sent to the scene.
An epidemic under surveillance in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The country is in “maximum alert” after the detection of a mysterious disease which has already caused dozens of deaths in just over a month according to the latest estimates, the Minister of Health declared this Thursday, December 5. “We consider this to be a level of epidemic that we must monitor,” underlined Samuel-Roger Kamba during a press conference in the capital Kinshasa.
The phenomenon described by health authorities as “an unknown public health event” is currently located in the Panzi region, some 700 km southeast of Kinshasa. The first cases were detected at the end of October. “In health centers, we recorded 27 deaths. And with the assessment carried out by the head doctor of the zone in the community, we also reported 44 deaths. specified the minister, adding however that on the latter, “we cannot say that it is immediately linked to the phenomenon because there are other possible causes.”
Generalized precariousness
In the remote region, which is difficult to access via an impassable road and where health infrastructure is almost non-existent, the population lives in general precariousness, suffering from a lack of access to drinking water and medicine. The malnutrition rate of 61%, particularly among children, is among the highest in the country, Kamba stressed, recalling that the region already experienced a serious epidemic of typhoid fever two years ago.
According to the first available data, the mysterious illness particularly affects the youngest, with 40% of cases involving children under five years old. The symptoms are similar to those of the flu: fever, cough and headache. Is it a seasonal flu that hits a fragile population harder? Is this a new virus? Specialists have already ruled out the covid hypothesis but have already concluded that it is a disease affecting the respiratory system. Epidemiologists were sent to the site to take samples.
Among the 27 deaths that occurred in health centers, 17 people died after falling into respiratory distress, the minister said. Ten died from lack of transfusion in a state of severe anemia. The DRC has already been hit hard in recent months by the mpox virus with more than 1,000 deaths. One of the poorest countries on the planet has recently seen the number of cases of the disease – formerly called monkeypox – decline slightly.
