Seventy-one people have been confirmed dead amid a mystery disease outbreak in Congo, the country’s health minister said on Dec. 5.
The confirmed dead include 27 people who died in hospitals and 44 in a community in southern Kwango Province, Congolese Health Minister Roger Kamba said during a briefing.
“The Congolese government is on general alert regarding this disease,” Kamba said, providing no further details.
Symptoms in the outbreak include fever, headache, cough, and anemia. Epidemiological experts are in the region to take samples and investigate the disease, the minister said.
“The disease resembles a respiratory disease but it is difficult to talk about how it is transmitted before the results of the analysis of the collected samples,” Kamba said.
Officials in Kwango Province previously said that between 67 and 143 people had died from the mystery disease.
Kamba said that of the confirmed deaths in hospitals, 10 patients died because of a lack of blood transfusions and 17 died from respiratory problems.
The Panzi health zone, located about 435 miles from the capital, Kinshasa, is a remote area of Kwango Province, making it hard to access. The epidemiological experts took two days to arrive there, the minister said.
A Panzi resident, Claude Niongo, said his wife and 7-year-old daughter died from the disease.
“We do not know the cause but I only noticed high fevers, vomiting ... and then death,” Niongo said in an interview. “Now, the authorities are talking to us about an epidemic, but in the meantime, there is a problem of care [and] people are dying.”
The World Health Organization (WHO) has sent personnel to Congo.
“WHO is working with the national authorities to follow up on reports of an unidentified disease and to understand the situation,” the agency told The Epoch Times in an email. “We have dispatched a team to the area to collect samples for laboratory investigations.”
A spokesperson for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that the agency is aware of reported illnesses in Congo, which is formally known as the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
“U.S. Government staff, including those from U.S. CDC’s country office in Kinshasa, are in contact with DRC’s Ministry of Health and stand ready to provide additional support if needed,” the spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an email.
Mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, is a viral disease similar to smallpox that is primarily spread through close contact with infected people. Many reported cases have been among men who have had sex with other men.
Along with the surge in Congo, mpox has spread to nearby countries.
The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in November that it is hoping that the cases plateau soon.
