HONG KONG — Health officials in the Democratic Republic of the Congo expect to know within days the cause of an infectious disease outbreak termed 'Disease X' that's sickened hundreds of people and killed at least 79, since late October.
Almost 200 of the 376 afflicted with a flu-like illness are younger than five years, said Jean Kaseya, director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
Cases of fever, headache, cough, difficulty breathing, and anemia were first reported on Oct 24 in the Panzi health zone in the southwestern province of Kwango, with national authorities alerted Dec 1.
"We have a delay of almost five to six weeks, and in five to six weeks so many things can happen," Kaseya said Thursday on a weekly call with reporters. "Ongoing testing will help us to understand what the issue is."
Health Minister Samuel Roger Kamba told reporters in Kinshasa: "We are on maximum alert, and we consider this to be a level of epidemic that we need to monitor".
Congo's Health Minister Roger Kamba. (Photo via South China Morning Post)
The disease emerged at a time of increased influenza circulation, and the culprit is likely to be airborne, said Dieudonne Mwamba, director general of the National Public Health Institute. Patient specimens are being analysed at a national lab in Kinshasa, some 500km (311 miles) from the outbreak zone.
Tests may be completed within 48 hours, with results released at the weekend, officials said.
The outbreak has renewed concerns of the emergence of a new pathogen with potential to spread across the world just a few years after Covid-19 forced countries to shut down borders and brought economic and social activities to a standstill.
Earlier this year, the spread of a new strain of mpox prompted the World Health Organisation (Who) to declare the disease a public health emergency of international concern, though the virus' spread out of Africa has remained sporadic.
Health authorities in Hong Kong said late Thursday that they will tighten screenings at the airport for visitors arriving from Johannesburg and Addis Ababa, the two African transit hubs that could ferry travellers from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
An aircraft operated by Air Canada takes off from Hong Kong International Airport in Hong Kong, China. (File photo: Bloomberg)
In Japan, the foreign ministry also advised people against unnecessary travel to the region affected by the outbreak.
Africa CDC is supporting Congolese officials with epidemiologists, laboratory scientists and infection prevention and control experts, Kaseya said, adding that the outbreak highlights challenges detecting diseases across the sprawling nation, where numerous deadly outbreaks occur concurrently.
"This is why we are supporting the country to build strong capacity on surveillance," he said.
A Panzi resident, Claude Niongo, said his wife and seven-year-old daughter died from the disease.
"We do not know the cause, but I only noticed high fevers, vomiting... and then death," Niongo told Associated Press (AP) over the phone. "Now, the authorities are talking to us about an epidemic but in the meantime, there is a problem of care (and) people are dying," he added.
Lucien Lufutu, president of the civil society consultation framework of Kwango province, who is in Panzi, said the local hospital where patients are treated is underequipped.
"There is a lack of medicines and medical supplies, since the disease is not yet known, most of the population is treated by traditional practitioners," Lufutu told AP.
He also said the disease affected Katenda, another nearby health zone.
When asked about a potential outbreak in other health zones, the health minister said he could not tell if that was the case but that nothing was reported.
Congo is already plagued by the mpox epidemic, with more than 47,000 suspected cases and over 1,000 suspected deaths from the disease in the Central African country, according to the Who.
An aerial view shows Lake Kivu and the skyline of the city of Goma, North Kivu province, Democratic Republic of the Congo. (File photo: Reuters)
