Africa’s top public health agency said infections have been detected in at five villages and that the agency is investigating whether water or food could be the cause of the infections, along with flu and typhoid.
The village of Bomate, which is around 200 kilometers (125 miles) from Boloko, has been hardest hit: 98% of the cases and 86% of deaths have been recorded in Bomate in the Basankusu health zone, WHO said.
Hundreds of people have tested positive for malaria in northwest Congo as health officials try to understand what may be behind a surge of illnesses that has surpassed 1,000 cases and killed at least 60 people.
Nearly half of the people who died did so within hours of the onset of symptoms, health officials said this week.
It said nearly 1,100 cases have been reported since the first outbreaks were discovered in two villages more than 100 miles apart in late January.
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