Mystery Illness Kills 60 People In Congo, Victims Died Within 48 Hours Of Showing Symptoms

Alessio AtriaMarch 23, 2025, 10:48 pmDaily Digest, News, News Feed >

A mysterious illness has killed more than 60 people in northwest Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) over the past six weeks, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

The WHO said in a bulletin that 431 cases and 60 deaths occurred in two outbreaks in remote villages in different health zones in Equateur province.

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“The outbreaks, which have seen cases rise rapidly within days, pose a significant public health threat,” WHO spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic told a briefing. “The exact cause remains unknown.”

Jasarevic said that the villages have both limited surveillance capacity and health infrastructure.

The larger outbreak, reported from Bomate village, killed 45 people out of 419 cases. Almost half of them died within 48 hours of falling ill, the WHO said, with symptoms including fever, pain, vomiting, internal bleeding and diarrhea.

This two-day timespan is the interval between the onset of these several symptoms.

“That’s what’s really worrying,” Serge Ngalebato, medical director of Bikoro Hospital, a regional monitoring center, declared.

The organization said that following the second outbreak of the mystery disease, which began in the village of Bomate on Feb. 9, samples from 13 cases were sent to the National Institute for Biomedical Research in Congo’s capital, Kinshasa, for testing.

These samples tested negative for common hemorrhagic fever diseases, including Ebola and Marburg. However, the WHO said health teams locally investigated other possible causes, such as malaria, food poisoning, typhoid, meningitis or another viral hemorrhagic fever.

The Africa office of WHO said an earlier outbreak, which involved eight deaths among 12 cases, had been reported from Boloko village in Bolomba health zone on Jan. 21.

This outbreak had been traced back to three deaths among children less than five years old in the village earlier that month. Symptoms, including fever and fatigue, evolved into hemorrhagic signs like nosebleeds and vomiting blood. Reports suggested that the children ate a dead bat before they fell ill.

The other cases were discovered in the same village and nearby Dondo village, all with similar symptoms. In late January, samples taken from patients all tested negative for Ebola and Marburg.

The WHO said no links have been established between the two clusters of cases.

“We are looking into whether it is another infection or whether it is some toxic agent,” Jasarevic mentioned, pointing toward similar outbreaks in the past. “We have to see what can be done and at what point WHO can support.”

In September 2024, there was a large ongoing outbreak of the mpox virus’ clade I variant in the DRC and its subsequent spread to other African nations.