The reason of scores of mysterious fatalities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is being narrowed down by health professionals. Based on preliminary laboratory testing, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned Thursday that a severe strain of malaria is most likely to blame.
For weeks, the condition was thought to be a mystery. The Africa CDC reports that it has affected 592 people and killed at least 37. Earlier, local officials told Reuters that more than 140 people had died.
While they wait for test results, African health officials have been calling the illness Disease X.
Lab testing of samples collected from 51 individuals indicate that a malaria outbreak may be the cause of the infections, the Africa CDC stated Thursday. Malnutrition and confirmed viral infections are two population-wide health conditions that may make the illnesses worse. (The parasite that causes malaria is carried by mosquitoes.)
At a news briefing, Dr. Ngashi Ngongo, the director-general of the Africa CDC’s senior consultant, stated that the diagnosis was more likely to be malaria.
Malaria was the cause, the Congo’s health ministry informed Reuters earlier this week: At last, the riddle has been unraveled. According to a statement released Tuesday, it is an instance of acute malaria manifested as a respiratory ailment, as reported by Reuters.
NBC News asked the ministry several questions, but the ministry did not answer.
According to the World Health Organization, testing is still going on and a diagnosis has not yet been confirmed. On December 8, the organizations proposed that the instances might be caused by or exacerbated by malaria. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the WHO, announced two days later that 10 of the 12 initial samples taken from ill individuals in the area had tested positive for malaria.
During the meeting on Thursday, Ngongo stated that the Africa CDC has yet to rule out a secondary theory that the illnesses are mostly caused by a viral infection in conjunction with malaria and malnourishment. One fatality, according to Ngongo, had indications of hemorrhagic fever, a potentially fatal illness linked to viral infections.
According to the WHO, the cases are in a remote area of Kwango province in southwest Congo that is hard to get to by car and has little access to laboratory testing. According to the agency, traveling from Kinshasa, the capital, to the province takes 48 hours.
The WHO also noted that the province had high rates of malnutrition, which might increase a person’s susceptibility to serious illness.
The bulk of cases linked to the outbreak are children, especially those under the age of five.
According to the Africa CDC, fever, headaches, coughing, breathing difficulties, and anemia have been the most often reported symptoms, with children experiencing the most severe symptoms.
In Congo, malaria is the primary cause of death, accounting for about 24,000 fatalities annually. According to the US Agency for International Development, it also causes 19% of the nation’s mortality among children under the age of five.
Anopheles mosquitoes transmit a parasite that causes malaria, which people can contract through bites. Mosquito nets, insect repellant and antimalarial drugs can help limit transmission, and receiving a malaria vaccine prior to infection can reduce the odds of severe disease and death.
Dr. Jean Kaseya, head of the Africa CDC,said in a news briefing last weekthat the outbreak constituted a major public health issue, given how many cases had been reported in a short time.
Ina briefing Dec. 5, Kaseya noted that limited surveillance and laboratory resources had caused a five- to six-week delay in national health authorities being notified of the illnesses after patients first started experiencing symptoms.
If malaria is the culprit, there may have been ways to rapidly detect it locally, said Amira Albert Roess, a professor of global health and epidemiology at George Mason University.
Health care providers could have detected it by taking small blood samples and looking at them under the microscope, Roess said. All local clinics should have light microscopes and personnel who are trained to use them to detect malaria and other parasites.
A local WHO team has been helping health authorities in Kwango province identify cases since the end of November. The U.S. CDC has also provided technical assistance.
Congo s health ministry hasissued a public statementinstructing people not to handle the remains of anyone who died after experiencing flu-like symptoms without the involvement of authorized health authorities. The ministry also advised people to avoid mass gatherings and report any suspicious illnesses or unusual deaths.
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