Fears mystery illness ‘could spread to other countries’ after infecting over 400 in Congo

Fears mystery illness ‘could spread to other countries’ after infecting over 400 in Congo
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Fears mystery illness ‘could spread to other countries’ after infecting over 400 in Congo
Author: Jen Mills
Published: Feb, 26 2025 15:39

An outbreak of an unknown virus which has already killed more than 50 people risks spreading beyond the borders of Congo, experts said. Medics have so far been unable to identify the illness from samples taken from among over 400 people infected. All samples tested so far have have been negative for Ebola or other common hemorrhagic fever diseases like Marburg.

 [Alarm over mystery illness in Congo after 50 people die within hours of symptoms]
Image Credit: Metro [Alarm over mystery illness in Congo after 50 people die within hours of symptoms]

The World Health Organisation sounded the alarm, describing the situation as a ‘crisis’ which poses a ‘significant public health threat’ in its latest weekly bulletin for Africa. It said: ‘The exact cause remains unknown, with Ebola and Marburg already ruled out, raising concerns about a severe infectious or toxic agent.’.

 [BENI, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO - 2019/06/13: World Health Organization worker Belinda Landu, 28, decontaminates the house of a pastor who has just tested positive for Ebola in Beni. The DRC is currently experiencing the second largest Ebola outbreak in recorded history, and the response is hampered by it being in an active conflict zone. More than 1,400 people have died since August 2018. (Photo by Sally Hayden/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)]
Image Credit: Metro [BENI, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO - 2019/06/13: World Health Organization worker Belinda Landu, 28, decontaminates the house of a pastor who has just tested positive for Ebola in Beni. The DRC is currently experiencing the second largest Ebola outbreak in recorded history, and the response is hampered by it being in an active conflict zone. More than 1,400 people have died since August 2018. (Photo by Sally Hayden/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)]

Cases were seen in two different areas, with one of them seeing an ‘exceptionally high case fatality rate’ while the other area saw nearly half of the deaths occurring within 48 hours of symptoms starting. Dr Michael Head, senior research fellow in global health at the University of Southampton, told Metro that while it is possible this is an entirely new virus, it is more likely that it is a bug we already know about but haven’t yet managed to identify.

 [Congolese officials and the World Health Organization officials wear protective suits as they participate in a training against the Ebola virus near the town of Beni in North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo, August 11, 2018. REUTERS/Samuel Mambo]
Image Credit: Metro [Congolese officials and the World Health Organization officials wear protective suits as they participate in a training against the Ebola virus near the town of Beni in North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo, August 11, 2018. REUTERS/Samuel Mambo]

He said: ‘The quality of the sample, and the time of illness the sample was taken, can affect the accuracy of the test, particularly when there are likely to be other pathogens present too. ‘So whilst there is a possibility that this could be a new bug, as we saw with COVID-19, it’s still the least likely scenario. More testing has been carried out, so we should have new important knowledge very soon.’.

The expert in infectious disease spread added: ‘A pandemic is very unlikely, but wider spread around the DRC and across to other countries is a possibility and a real concern.’. In 2014 and 2015, Ebola spread across West Africa, which offers an example of what is at risk from such illnesses spreading beyond the initial cluster of cases.

A further outbreak of Ebola killed 2,299 people in eastern DRC between 2018 and 2020, while Marburg has killed at least 56 people in neighbouring countries in the last two years. Dr Head said of the current outbreak, which had killed 53 at the latest update: ‘The contact tracing, where public health teams try to find people who may have been exposed to a case, will be vital here in gaining control of this outbreak.’.

The WHO said that ‘urgent action is needed’ to find out what is causing it, communicate the risks, and isolate those affected. ‘The remote location and weak healthcare infrastructure increase the risk. of further spread, requiring immediate high-level intervention to contain the outbreak,’ they said.

The first outbreak in the town of Boloko is thought to have begun after three children ate a bat and died within 48 hours, following hemorrhagic fever symptoms. According to the WHO’s latest bulletin, there were no clear links of how the illness spread to another area.

Local health facilites in Basankusu and Ekoto are ‘overwhelmed, only able to provide clinical services to the extent possible to some of the patients,’ it said, with isolation rooms set up for those affected. Some have questioned whether this unknown sickness could be classed as Disease X, a term in use since 2018 to identify a new pathogen with the potential to cause an epidemic or pandemic, like Covid-19 when it first emerged.

Given how little we know about this illness, with research ongoing, it is premature to use the term for this illness. Last year, World Health Organisation boss Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that a future Disease X could ‘wreak havoc across the globe because people have failed to learn lessons from previous pandemics’.

He added that its existence is a metter of ‘when, not if’ and could be ’caused by an influenza virus, or a new coronavirus, or it may be caused by a new pathogen we don’t even know about yet’. After that, he said there will be another Disease Y and a Disease Z too.

It began on January 21 in Boloko. A second outbreak reached the town of Bomate on February 9. In total, 419 cases have been recorded including 53 deaths. All samples have been negative for Ebola or other common hemorrhagic fever diseases like Marburg.However, some tested positive for malaria.

We still don’t know enough to say. Samples have come back negative for common illnesses, though it’s possible they were just not identified due to the stage of the illness. Last year, another mystery flu-like illness that killed dozens of people in another part of Congo was determined to be most likely malaria.

The WHO is investigating the possibilities of malaria, viral haemorrhagic. fever, food or water poisoning, typhoid fever, and meningitis. Dr Head said: ‘The spread of cases across two health districts suggests that it would be more likely to be an infectious disease, than perhaps a chemical or environmental contamination.

‘The index case (first known case) seems to a child who was known to have eaten a bat. This is a potential risk factor for the viral haemorrhagic fevers such as Ebola. However, more information is needed about the outbreak, particularly from those test results.’.

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