For several weeks, an unknown disease has worried health authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Here is the first information on what is still called “disease X”.
She doesn’t have a name yet but is already making a lot of noise. In late November, an alert was issued about an unknown disease that was identified in October in Panzi, a remote area in the southwest of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). This locality, particularly difficult to access during this rainy period, is affected by “very difficult health conditions”, including “difficulties in supplying medicines”, noted the Minister of Public Health of the DRC during a a press conference on Thursday, December 5.
Experts were deployed by the Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization to investigate the cause of the epidemic. “All efforts are being made to determine the cause of the disease, understand its modes of transmission and organize an adequate response as soon as possible,” reassured in a press release Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa. The Health Ministry has ruled out Covid-19, but it could be a more severe version of the seasonal flu, which is currently circulating in the country.
“Disease X” also resembles the flu: it is characterized by symptoms such as fever, headache, runny nose, cough, and even body aches. The most serious cases suffered respiratory distress. The disease particularly affects children under 5 years old, who represent 40% of cases. The Africa CDC, the African disease control center, also mentions a “high mortality rate among children” in a press release published this Monday, December 9.
The latest information communicated by the Minister of Health shows 71 deaths, including 27 in healthcare facilities, and 44 reported by the doctor in charge on site. Health authorities estimate that 8% of affected cases die, in particular because the population is particularly fragile. The region is in fact affected by the highest rate of malnutrition in the country: more than 6 out of 10 children are affected. And other diseases, such as malaria or monkeypox, circulate within the population. Faced with this situation, the Minister of Health of the DRC launched “maximum alert”. Despite everything, he wants to be reassuring, believing that “it is something that we can contain locally”. There is therefore – for the moment – no reason to fear a global epidemic.