On Feb 25th, most mainstream media reported on this, and they've got the "suspect it comes from eating a bat" narrative.
An unknown illness has killed 53 people in a northwestern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo, with a significant portion of deaths taking place within 48 hours of the onset of symptoms
At least 431 cases have been reported since January of individuals suffering from fever, vomiting, diarrhea, muscle aches, headaches and fatigue, according to the WHO’s Africa office. The illness — believed to have broken out in two separate villages in Équateur province — has a fatality rate of 12.3 %, the WHO said.
Investigators traced the outbreak’s origin to the village of Boloko, where three children under the age of 5 died after reportedly eating a bat carcass, health officials said. In addition to the other symptoms reported with this disease, the three children suffered symptoms similar to those of a hemorrhagic fever — bleeding from the nose and vomiting blood — before they died between Jan. 10 and Jan. 13.
Following their deaths, four more children from the same village between the ages of 5 and 18 died. By Jan. 27, there had been a total of 10 cases and seven deaths out of Boloko and two cases and one death out of the nearby village of Danda, the WHO said.
Less than two weeks later, a second outbreak of the mystery disease was reported to health officials in the village of Bomate. By mid-February, investigators had identified 419 cases of the virus there, with 45 deaths, the WHO said.
Investigators sent samples from a total of 18 cases to the National Institute for Biomedical Research in Congo’s capital, Kinshasa, for testing, the WHO said. All the samples tested negative for common hemorrhagic fever diseases such as Ebola and Marburg, and “further laboratory testing is critical to identify the causative pathogen,” the WHO report said, adding that the two outbreaks may not be linked.
Health officials noted that the remote location of the two outbreaks and the country’s “weak health care infrastructure increase the risk of further spread, requiring immediate high-level intervention to contain the outbreak.”
An unknown illness has killed 53 people in a northwestern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo, with a significant portion of deaths taking place within 48 hours of the onset of symptoms
At least 431 cases have been reported since January of individuals suffering from fever, vomiting, diarrhea, muscle aches, headaches and fatigue, according to the WHO’s Africa office. The illness — believed to have broken out in two separate villages in Équateur province — has a fatality rate of 12.3 %, the WHO said.
Investigators traced the outbreak’s origin to the village of Boloko, where three children under the age of 5 died after reportedly eating a bat carcass, health officials said. In addition to the other symptoms reported with this disease, the three children suffered symptoms similar to those of a hemorrhagic fever — bleeding from the nose and vomiting blood — before they died between Jan. 10 and Jan. 13.
Following their deaths, four more children from the same village between the ages of 5 and 18 died. By Jan. 27, there had been a total of 10 cases and seven deaths out of Boloko and two cases and one death out of the nearby village of Danda, the WHO said.
Less than two weeks later, a second outbreak of the mystery disease was reported to health officials in the village of Bomate. By mid-February, investigators had identified 419 cases of the virus there, with 45 deaths, the WHO said.
Investigators sent samples from a total of 18 cases to the National Institute for Biomedical Research in Congo’s capital, Kinshasa, for testing, the WHO said. All the samples tested negative for common hemorrhagic fever diseases such as Ebola and Marburg, and “further laboratory testing is critical to identify the causative pathogen,” the WHO report said, adding that the two outbreaks may not be linked.
Health officials noted that the remote location of the two outbreaks and the country’s “weak health care infrastructure increase the risk of further spread, requiring immediate high-level intervention to contain the outbreak.”
