“Disease X” in the Congo – What we know

More than 130 dead, apparently due to a respiratory disease: A mysterious illness that resembles a severe flu has broken out in the Congo – children are particularly affected. The most important things at a glance.

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.

According to the health authority, the first cases of the disease appeared on October 24 in the Panzi region of Kwango province. On December 1st there was an alarm message at the national level. A team of epidemiologists then immediately traveled to Panzi to support the local doctors in treating the patients and determining what type of disease they were dealing with.

At this point, 67 deaths had already been recorded. According to local health authorities, the number of people who have died from the disease so far has now risen to more than 130. Teams of medical experts who have been visiting the affected towns in the southwest of the country since Tuesday have found two more villages where at least 60 deaths have been recorded, said the health minister of Kwango province, Apollinaire Yumba.

Fever, headache, breathing problems

Little is currently known about the disease. Symptoms include fever, headache, breathing problems and anemia. In anemia, also known as anemia, the concentration of the red blood pigment hemoglobin in the blood falls below normal. This means that the blood can transport significantly less oxygen.

According to the authorities in Panzi, at least ten people died of severe anemia. There are said to have been no blood supplies in the remote region. However, Health Minister Roger Kamb explained: “We don’t know whether the anemia is caused by the disease or whether it occurs in addition to anemia, for example due to malnutrition.”

According to Yumba, 382 people with symptoms of “Disease X” have been registered so far. Dieudonné Mwamba, director general of the Institute of Public Health, said infants and young children were particularly affected. So far there have been 198 cases of illness and 17 deaths in this age group.

Waiting for them Laboratory results

It was initially unclear why people were getting sick. This requires laboratory results from the samples. It could be a non-contagious 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.

Minister of Health Kamba: “Most High alert”

The remoteness of the Panzi region could prevent rapid spread, suspects Health Minister Kamba. Nevertheless, “high alert” applies. “That means we view it as a kind of epidemic that needs to be monitored as closely as possible.”

However, the region’s location makes it difficult for helpers and experts to access the villages. The first team sent to Panzi took two days to cover a 400 kilometer route. The roads are in bad condition.

Around 40 percent of people in Panzi are said to be malnourished, and the proportion of children is estimated at 60 percent. “We are dealing with a vulnerable area,” says Mwamba from the Institute of Public Health, assessing the situation. There was an outbreak of typhus there two years ago.