Mysterious flu-like disease in Congo kills dozens, puts authorities on “general alert” as cases are investigated

Kinshasa, Congo – The Congolese health minister said on Thursday that the country’s government is alert to a mysterious flu-like disease that has killed dozens of people in recent weeks, almost half of them children. So far the authorities have confirmed that 71 people have died, including 27 who died in hospitals and 44 in the community in the south of Kwango province, said the minister of health Roger Kamba.

“The Congolese government is cautious about the disease,” Kamba said, without giving further details.

Of the victims hospitalized, 10 died due to lack of blood transfusion and 17 due to breathing problems, said Kamba.

Authorities say symptoms of the disease include fever, headache, cough and anemia. Epidemiological experts were in the region to take samples and investigate the disease, said the health minister.

Congo has emerged plagued by the mpox epidemicwith more than 47,000 suspected cases and more than 1,000 suspected cases of the disease in the Central African country, according to the World Health Organization.

Authorities in the country He started to vaccinate people for smallpox in October, about two months after the outbreak spread from the Congo to several countries in Africa and beyond has been declared a global emergency by the World Health Organization.