Officials from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have still not been able to identify the pathogen causing an outbreak of a mysterious respiratory virus in a remote region of the country.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said yesterday 31 people have died and 406 people have been sickened by the illness, which causes fever, headache, cough, runny nose, and body aches.
The WHO said that severe malnourishment has been linked to severe cases of the illness, and the majority of cases reported are among children under 5 years. The case-fatality rate is 7.6%. Seventy-percent of deaths have been in children below the age of 15, with 54.8% of the total in children under the age of 5 years. Roughly 60% of all case-patients are female.
Remote area hard to access during rainy season
The outbreak is occurring in Panzi health zone in Kwango Province, located in the southwest corner of the country.
The area is rural and remote, with access further hindered by the ongoing rainy season.
"The area is rural and remote, with access further hindered by the ongoing rainy season,” the WHO said. “Reaching it from Kinshasa by road takes an estimated 48 hours.”
Cases were first identified on October 24 and new cases have been reported as recently as December 5. WHO said it seems the outbreak peaked, however, during the week of November 9.
The area has uncontrolled malaria spread, the WHO said, and extreme food insecurity in addition to limited access to vaccine and diagnostic care.
“There is a lack of supplies and transportation means and shortage of health staff in the area,” the WHO said.
Almost all patients report fever
The WHO said current health workers dispatched to the area are both treating patients and trying to find the cause of the outbreak. The most clinical presentation is general, with almost all patients reporting fever (96.5%), cough (87.9%), fatigue (60.9%), and a running nose (57.8%).
“Given the clinical presentation and symptoms reported, and a number of associated deaths, acute pneumonia, influenza, COVID-19, measles and malaria are being considered as potential causal factors with malnutrition as a contributing factor,” the WHO said.
The WHO said they were also considering acute pneumonia (respiratory tract infection) and hemolytic uremic syndrome from. Escherichia coli infection as possible causes of the outbreak.
