Dead within 48 hours: What is the new mystery illness spreading in DRC?

A new mysterious and deadly illness is rapidly spreading across the northwestern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Since January 21, health officials have reported 419 cases and 53 deaths. The illness is especially alarming because in most cases, death occurs within just 48 hours of the first symptoms.

“The outbreaks, which have seen cases rise rapidly within days, pose a significant public health threat. The exact cause remains unknown,” Tarik Jašarević, spokesman for the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Tuesday.

The villages have limited surveillance capacity and health infrastructure, he added.

"We are looking into whether it is another infection or whether it is some toxic agent. We have to see what can be done and at what point WHO can support," Jašarević said.

The mystery illness, according to the WHO, is a significant public health threat with a fatality rate of 12.3 percent.

Here is what we know so far:

Deadly symptoms

According to the WHO, the outbreak was traced to Boloko village in the Équateur province, where three children, under the age of five, died two days after eating a bat carcass.

Patients have experienced symptoms including severe bleeding from the nose, vomiting blood, fever, chills, headache, body aches, sweating, neck stiffness, diarrhoea, and abdominal cramps.

The second outbreak of the unknown disease began in the Bomate village, also in the Equateur province, on February 9.

The WHO said no links have been established between the two clusters of cases.

It has also ruled out known hemorrhagic fevers such as Ebola and Marburg, after conducting a lab test.

“⁠Reports of this mysterious illness trace back several weeks and were linked to the recent Ebola alert but since it has been tested negative for both Ebola and Marburg, further investigation is needed," Dr Krutika Kuppalli, an infectious diseases expert at the University of Texas, tells TRT Word.

She said it was crucial not to jump to conclusions.

“Just months ago, an undiagnosed illness in the DRC was speculated to be ‘Disease X’ but was later identified as severe malaria in malnourished patients. Accurate, up-to-date information is essential as the situation continues to develop."

What is it?

Michael Head, a senior research fellow in global health at the University of Southampton in Britain, said a genuinely new illness, “as we saw with COVID-19, of course can happen but is very rare”.

“Usually, it’s a bug... that we know about but haven’t yet diagnosed in that particular outbreak,” he said, adding that typically, such outbreaks are brought under control relatively quickly.

However, he said, it was concerning that there were hundreds of cases and over 50 deaths, with haemorrhagic-fever like symptoms widely reported among those cases.

According to Serge Ngalebato, medical director at the Bikoro Hospital in Kinshasa city, a regional centre, the interval between the onset of symptoms and death has been 48 hours in the majority of cases, and that’s what’s really worrying.

Case history

In December last year, there was an outbreak in the southwest of the DRC which was later traced back to acute respiratory infections complicated by malaria.

The nation has also been battling a major outbreak of Mpox – which is a virus that can cause painful blisters and prove fatal in some cases.

Following a global outbreak in 2022 and 2023, much of the African continent, including the DRC, is still fighting the virus.

According to Dr Kuppalli, there are several health challenges in the region, and these arise from a complex mix of factors like limited healthcare infrastructure, ongoing humanitarian crises, and difficult-to-access remote areas.

Addressing these issues demands a coordinated, sustained global effort to ensure timely intervention and support.

According to The Associated Press, there have been concerns about diseases jumping from animals to humans in places where wild animals are popularly eaten.

The number of such outbreaks in Africa has surged by more than 60 percent in the last decade, the WHO said in 2022.

Dr Kuppalli explained that zoonotic diseases—those that spread from animals to humans—are a known cause of outbreaks worldwide.

“While there is no confirmed link between this illness and animal consumption at this stage, investigations are ongoing to better understand the source and nature of the infection,” she said.

In addition to the poor health conditions, the country is also in a state of political instability where 7,000 people have been killed in the country's eastern region due to an ongoing conflict with armed groups.