A previously unknown disease circulating in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is a serious form of malaria, the country’s Ministry of Health has concluded.
Earlier this month, local authorities said the disease had killed 143 people in the southwestern province of Kwango in November. The symptoms of the disease include fever, headache, cough, runny nose and body aches.
“The mystery has finally been solved. It is a case of severe malaria in the form of a respiratory disease,” the Health Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday, adding that malnutrition in the area had weakened the local population, making them more vulnerable to disease.
The statement also said that 592 cases have been reported since October, with a mortality rate of 6.2%.
Reports of an unknown disease had raised alarm and prompted the World Health Organization (WHO) to send a team of researchers to the remote part of the DRC.
However, officials had stressed that the area has high levels of food insecurity and malnutrition, likely to exacerbate the impact of known diseases including malaria. The WHO too be to “a low vaccination rate and very limited access to diagnostics and quality case management”.
Malaria still kills almost 600,000 people worldwide every year, and 12% of these deaths occur in the DRC.
Provincial Health Minister Apollinaire Yumba told Reuters that WHO-provided antimalarial drugs were being distributed in key hospitals and health centers in the Panzi health zone.
A WHO spokesperson said more health kits for moderate and critical cases would arrive on Wednesday.
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WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said last week that 10 early samples from patients in Congo suffering from a mysterious illness had tested positive for malaria, but that he had not ruled out the possibility that they had other concurrent illnesses.