The Mystery Disease X outbreak in Congo is killing more children as health officials reveal the risk level for America

A mysterious illness called ‘Disease X’ has infected more than 400 children and killed dozens in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

The WHO last week sent researchers to the remote Panzi region in the south-west of the country to help with the outbreak, who have now released their first report on the situation.

The agency said Sunday that there have been 406 cases and 31 deaths — mostly children — due to the undiagnosed disease since Oct. 24, although the actual number is likely higher.

That official figure only includes patients who died in hospital and not those who died in hospital died at home.

It is still not clear what exactly causes the diseases. Rapid response teams say it could be pneumonia, flu, Covid, measles, malaria, E. coli infection or a combination of many of those infections at once.

The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is calling the infection “disease X” until its source is confirmed.

The WHO said the risk of the disease to people in the local area was ‘high’, while the rest of the DRC was classified as at ‘moderate’ risk.

Internationally, however, the disease was said to pose a ‘low’ risk. The CDC told DailyMail.com it stands ready to help the country.

Affected patients are usually children under the age of 14 and suffer a range of flu-like symptoms, including fever, cough, fatigue and a runny nose.

They said it was possible that patients were infected with more than one disease at the same time, and that many homes in the area were poorly protected against malaria.

“This is a remote area with limited laboratory and other health care capacity – there is no laboratory in the region – so it is possible that it is an existing pathogen that has not yet been diagnosed,” a WHO spokesperson told me. Newsweek.

“Laboratory test results have yet to come, so this is an undiagnosed disease rather than an unknown one at this point.”

Of the 33 hospital deaths reported by WHO, 71 percent were among those under the age of 15 and 55 percent were among those under the age of five.

Fever and cough were the most common symptoms, affecting 96.5 percent of patients.

Other common symptoms include fatigue, which affects six in ten percent of patients, and a runny nose, which affects 58 percent of patients.

The main symptoms in deceased patients were breathing difficulties, signs of acute malnutrition and anemia – or a lack of healthy red blood cells.

WHO officials also noted that the area had been suffering from malnutrition since September, with the first case reported on October 24.

Flu and Covid are among the diseases that have been cited as the most likely causes

Cases appeared to peak in the week ending Nov. 9, they said, while the number of cases diagnosed has been smaller since then.

There have been delays in testing patients in the region for diseases due to the wet season, meaning it took two days for teams to reach the area from the DRC capital Kinshasa.

There are also concerns that the team could be targeted by armed groups, hampering their efforts.

It comes after three countries and one territory introduced restrictions on arrivals from the affected area.

Honduras yesterday became the latest country to say it would screen all new arrivals from the area for infections.

Authorities in Thailand are also closely monitoring arrivals from the area, while those in Japan have advised against “all unnecessary travel” to the DRC. Passengers arriving in Hong Kong from the territory are also screened for infection.

A passenger who arrived in the US from Tanzania was hospitalized late last week with a “flu-like illness,” raising concerns that he may have been infected. But reports later suggested it was a ‘routine illness’.

A traveler in Italy was also hospitalized this weekend with a mystery illness after traveling to the country from the DRC. It is currently unclear what they are infected with.