Amid an outbreak involving a still-undetermined cause in a remote location in the southwestern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the World Health Organization (WHO) said today that it has deployed an expert team to support the country’s investigators.
The outbreak in a remote part of Kwango province in the Panzi Health Zone began in late October and first came to the attention of national authorities this week. The remote location doesn’t have testing capacity, and yesterday a top health ministry official said samples were sent to a lab in Kigali in neighboring Kwilu province, with results expected within 48 hours.
Expert team is bringing medicine and test kits
Case and death totals have been shifting as the investigation evolves. The WHO today, citing the DRC health ministry, said 394 cases have been reported, 30 of them fatal. Symptoms include fever, headache, cough, breathing difficulties, and anemia.
The WHO said an initial local team from the WHO has been supporting health authorities in Kwango province since the end of November to help reinforce surveillance and identify cases.
In its announcement, the WHO said the new expert team will work alongside the DRC’s national response team. The group includes epidemiologists, clinicians, laboratory technicians and infection prevention and control, and risk communication experts.
The team is bringing essential medicines, as well as diagnostic and sample collection kits to help rapidly determine the cause of the illness.
Matshidiso Moeti, MD, who leads the WHO African regional office, said, “Our priority is to provide effective support to the affected families and communities. All efforts are underway to identify the cause of the illness, understand its modes of transmission and ensure appropriate response as swiftly as possible.”
Undiagnosed illnesses trigger illness monitoring in travelers
The outbreak in the DRC and reports of a potential respiratory component has led to heightened awareness of illness symptoms in travelers in some locations outside of Africa.
Hong Kong’s Centre for Health Protection (CHP) said yesterday that it has stepped up screening for travelers arriving from two travel hubs where travelers from the DRC typically originate: Johannesburg, South Africa, and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Yesterday media outlets in Ohio reported that a patient who had traveled from Tanzania to Cleveland had been isolated and hospitalized at UH St. John Medical Center for evaluation of flulike illness.
Today hospital officials said the patient’s condition is considered routine and that the individual is not in isolation anymore, BNO News reported, citing a statement from the health facility.
