There is another Epidemic in Africaa New disease in the Congo. According to the latest Bulletin of the World Health Organization (WHO), it was detected for the first time on January 21 and in the last five weeks it has infected hundreds of people and killed more than 50 in the northwest of the country. This is what we know so far.
The epidemic
According to the estimates of a report From WHO, the number of outbreaks of animals transmitted to people has increased 63% in Africa. This last outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as can be seen from the preliminary investigations, began on January 21, 2025, with a first outbreak in the town of Boloko, where Three children They died a few days after eating the body of a bat and develop later symptoms as Fever, headache, diarrhea, nasal bleeding, hematemesis and other hemorrhages. At the beginning of February, the health authorities also registered a second conglomerate of cases and deaths from the disease not identified in the town of Bomate. Until February 15, a total of 431 infections had been notified, 53 of them mortal.
The new disease not identified in the Congo
In most cases, the interval between the appearance of symptoms and death was 48 hours And “this is really worrying,” said AP Serge Ngalebato, medical director of the Bikoro Hospital, Regional Surveillance Center. These symptoms of hemorrhagic fever are usually related to known viruses, such as Ebola and the Marburgbut experts have ruled out these pathogens after analyzing more than a dozen samples collected so far. Specifically, the samples of 18 cases were sent to the National Biomedical Research Institute of Kinshasa, the Capgo capital, and They gave negative in The tests of the most common diseases related to hemorrhagic fever, although some tested positive for malaria. “The exact cause remains unknownwith Ebola and the Marburg isolation capabilities and reinforce surveillance. Remote location and weak sanitary infrastructure increase the risk of greater propagation, which requires immediate action for contain the outbreak.
The last outbreak
At the end of last year, we briefly remember, another mysterious disease Similar to the flu killed about 70 people in another region of the Congo, in the southwest of the country. As we already count, most of the samples analyzed had tested positive for malaria And, according to experts, the disease still not diagnosed could be presumably the sum of several diseases. It was later discovered that they were respiratory infections, aggravated by malaria.
Article originally published in Wired Italy. Adapted by Mauricio Serfatty Godoy.
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