Unknown Deadly Illness Strikes Western Congo

An unidentified illness has killed scores of people and infected hundreds in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the World Health Organization has reported, with preliminary investigations tracing the outbreak to three children who in January ate a bat and died.

Fifty-three people in the country’s northwest had died from the disease, out of 431 reported cases as of Feb. 15, and “with nearly half of the deaths occurring within 48 hours of symptom onset” in one of two identified clusters, according to a weekly bulletin published by the W.H.O.’s Africa office.

“The outbreak, which has seen cases rise rapidly within days, poses a significant public health threat,” the report said, and “the exact cause remains unknown.”

Victims’ symptoms have included fever, vomiting, diarrhea, and body aches, among others. The children who perished from the illness also had bled from the nose and vomited blood.

The link to a bat may be significant, because viruses in bats are known to cause a number of other diseases in humans. Bats are thought to be natural reservoirs for Marburg and Ebola viruses, two hemorrhagic fevers that are the source of ongoing outbreaks in the region, and a bat virus appears to have been a precursor to the Covid-19 virus.

The disease, which has infected people in Congo’s Équateur Province, has been fatal in over 12 percent of cases. Investigators identified an initial outbreak in Boloko Village that spread to nearby Danda Village, the W.H.O. said. A second, larger outbreak occurred in Bomate Village and has infected over 400 people.

The investigators sent 18 samples to Congo’s capital, Kinshasa, for testing, ruling out Ebola and Marburg viruses.

Last year, an unknown flulike illness infected hundreds of people in the southwestern part of the country. It was later found to likely be respiratory infections complicated by malaria.

The unknown outbreak in northwestern Équateur Province is several hundred miles removed from the war and deepening humanitarian crisis tearing apart eastern Congo. M23 rebels backed by Rwanda have been fighting the Congolese Army there and gaining ground.

Équateur covers an area the size of Kentucky straddling the Congo River, much of it sparsely populated farmland and rainforest.