The first victims in one of the villages were children who ate a bat and died within 48 hours, the Africa office of the World Health Organization said this week.
And so, as long as we have these forests, we will always have a few epidemics with viruses which will mutate,” said Gabriel Nsakala, a professor of public health at Congo's National Pedagogical University, who previously worked at the Congolese health ministry on Ebola and coronavirus response programs.
While these symptoms can be caused by many common infections, health officials initially feared the symptoms and the quick deaths of some of the victims could also be a sign of a hemorrhagic fever such as Ebola, which was also linked to an an infected animal.
Congo’s Ministry of Health said about 80% of the patients share similar symptoms including fever, chills, body aches and diarrhea.
The outbreaks in two distant villages in Congo’s Equateur province began on Jan. 21 and include 419 cases and 53 deaths.
