Alert in the Congo: What we know about “Disease X” – and what we don’t

Alert in Congo
What we know about “Disease X” – and what we don’t

December 6th, 2024, 6:55 p.m

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A few days ago, an alarm message reached the health authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo: an unknown, deadly disease with flu-like symptoms had broken out in the southwest of the country. First of all, it is completely unclear what could cause the so-called “Disease X”. An overview:

What we know

• The first case of the disease was recorded on October 24th.
• Patients suffer from flu-like symptoms – fever, runny nose, headache and body aches, difficulty breathing.
• The disease spread quickly in the Panzi administrative region. But no information came out from there for weeks.
• The alarm was announced at national level on December 1st – 67 deaths had already been recorded.
• According to official information, at least ten sufferers died of severe anemia – there were no blood supplies for them in the health facilities in the remote region.
• Around 40 percent of people in the region are said to be undernourished, and among children the proportion is estimated at 60 percent.
• Among the 382 patients with characteristics of “Disease X,” 198 were children under the age of five.
• The region’s remote location makes access difficult for helpers and experts – the first team sent to Panzi took two days to cover a 400-kilometer route. The roads are in bad condition.
• Some villages with dozens of deceased patients were only found over the following days. This led to a sharp increase in the published number of deaths to more than 130.
• The region’s remoteness could prevent rapid spread. Nevertheless, “high alert” applies, said Congolese Health Minister Roger Kamba. “That means we view it as a kind of epidemic that needs to be monitored as closely as possible.”

What we don’t know

• It is initially unclear why people became ill. This requires laboratory results from the samples. It could be a non-infectious disease, such as caused by environmental conditions, or an infectious disease. If it is an infectious disease, it can be a fungal infection, a bacterial infection, a parasitic infection or a viral infection.
• The African health authority CDC Africa spoke of initial indications that the disease could be transmitted through the air. However, there are still many questions surrounding both the transmission routes and the exact nature of the disease.
• Once the cause has been found, further investigation must be carried out: For example, is it a known pathogen or a new pathogen? The laboratory results could also provide information about this.
• “We don’t know if the anemia is caused by the disease or if the disease occurs in addition to anemia, such as malnutrition,” Kamba said.