GOMA  –  Just four months after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a global health emergency over mpox – which has overwhelmed health systems in Democratic Republic of the Congo this year –  a new mystery flu-like illness that’s killed dozens of people has raised fears among many Congolese. Forty-year-old Denise Kabeya lives in the Panzi area in DRC’s western Kwango province – where health authorities say most cases of the unknown disease have emerged since October. That month, Kabeya’s 12-year-old daughter Diane fell ill. “My beloved little one had headaches, runny nose, no appetite and was physically weak,” Kabeya told Al Jazeera by telephone. “I thought it was malaria and typhoid fever,” she shared, explaining that those diseases are endemic in the region. When Diane developed a blocked nose, Kabeya hoped the worst was over and that she would make a speedy recovery, as was usually the case when she developed such symptoms. But the child complained about more aches and pains, and eventually passed away from her illness in late October.

Between October 24 and December 11, there were 514 cases of the undiagnosed disease reported in eight of the 30 health areas in Panzi health zone, according to figures from the local health authorities. Earlier this week, the WHO, which has sent experts to the region to investigate the cause of the outbreak and help with the response, said more than 30 people had died in hospitals from the disease. There were another 44 deaths recorded in remote communities in Panzi, Congolese Minister of Health Roger Kamba said last week. Kamba said the outbreak was first reported in October, with the alert level raised to high at the end of November. Most of the cases and deaths are in children under 14, national health authorities said, with children under five presenting with the majority of cases. Because so little is known about this mystery disease, it is difficult to know why children are so vulnerable, experts said. Al Jazeera reached out to the WHO branch in the DRC for further details, but was told that investigations are still continuing to understand the reasons. Speaking at a media conference last week, Kamba said that the disease is flu-like.

“Respiratory distress was noted in some children and some other people who died,” Kamba, said, noting that some patients were anaemic, which was the cause of some of the deaths linked to the disease. Cases of severe malnutrition have aggravated the disease in some children, according to local sources in Panzi, information also corroborated by the national Ministry of Health. “Symptoms are flu-like. Patients suffer from high fever, headaches, coughing, runny nose and aches and pains,” Serges Zenga, an attending physician in the Kenge health zone, near Panzi, told Al Jazeera. This week, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said laboratory samples from infected people were being collected and tested. So far, most of the samples had tested positive for malaria, he said, but added that it was possible more than one disease was involved. Meanwhile, the remoteness of the epicentre of the outbreak, as well as a lack of infrastructure, was jeopardising the fight against the disease. (Al Jazeera)

Photo: A view of the Panzi General Referral Hospital in southwestern Democratic Republic of the Congo, which has seen an outbreak of a mystery disease. (AP)