Unknown disease in DRC leaves dozens dead, officials say

An unknown disease has killed at least 67 people over a two-week span in the southwestern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, local authorities said.

The deaths were recorded between November 10 and 25 in the Panzi health zone of Kwango province.

Symptoms included fever, headache, cough and anaemia, the provincial health minister, Apollinaire Yumba, told reporters over the weekend.

The deputy provincial governor, Rémy Saki, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that between 67 and 143 people died.

”A team of epidemiological experts is expected in the region to take samples and identify the problem,” he added.

Yumba advised the population to exercise caution and refrain from touching the dead to avoid contamination.

He called on national and international partners to send medical supplies to deal with the health crisis.

“We are investigating this alert with the Government of DRC,” Nicaise Ndembi, a senior advisor to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) director general, told Euronews Health.

It comes as the DRC is already fighting an epidemic of mpox, with more than 47,000 suspected cases and over 1,000 suspected deaths from the disease in the Central African country, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).