Kinshasa [Congo], December 18: The Ministry of Health of the Democratic Republic of Congo announced on December 17 that the mysterious epidemic in the country's Kwango province is a severe form of malaria.
"The mystery has finally been solved. It was a severe case of malaria in the form of a respiratory disease," the DRC's health ministry said in a statement, adding that malnutrition in the area had weakened the local population, making them more susceptible to the disease.
Earlier this month, local authorities reported that the mysterious disease had killed 143 people in the Panzi health district of the Democratic Republic of Congo in November, according to Reuters. Symptoms of the disease include headaches, fever, cough, runny nose and body aches.
According to the Ministry of Health of the Democratic Republic of Congo, there have been 592 cases of the disease reported since October, with a mortality rate of 6.2%.
Kwango Provincial Health Department Director Apollinaire Yumba told Reuters that anti-malarial drugs provided by the World Health Organization (WHO) are being distributed at the main hospital and health centers in the Panzi health area.
More medical kits for moderate and critical cases will be delivered on December 18 (local time), a WHO spokesman said.
Last week, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced that 10 initial samples from patients in Congo with a mysterious illness had tested positive for malaria, but he did not rule out the possibility that they had other concomitant illnesses, according to Reuters.
On the afternoon of December 12, according to information from the Vietnamese Ministry of Health , the National Focal Point for the International Health Regulations (IHR) received information from WHO about an illness of unknown cause in the Panzi area, Kwango province, Democratic Republic of Congo. In Vietnam, the Department of Preventive Medicine (Ministry of Health) is continuing to monitor the development of the epidemic ; coordinating with WHO and other countries to update and share information about the epidemic. In case of new developments, the Department of Preventive Medicine will coordinate with WHO, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and relevant units to assess the risk and propose appropriate responses.
Source: Thanh Nien Newspaper