By Kato Jmail
An unknown disease killed 143 people in Democratic Republic of the Congo’s southwestern province in November, local authorities said.
Infected people had flu-like symptoms, including high fever and severe headaches, Remy Saki, deputy governor of Kwango province, and Apollinaire Yumba, provincial minister of health, said on Monday.
A medical team has been sent to the Panzi health zone to collect samples and carry out an analysis to identify the disease.
Civil society leader Cephorien Manzanza told Reuters that the situation is extremely worrying as the number of infected people continues to rise.
“Panzi is a rural health zone, so there is a problem with the supply of medicines,” Manzanza said.
Sick people die in their own homes for lack of treatment, Saki and Yumba said.
A local epidemiologist said women and children were the most seriously affected by the disease.
A WHO spokesperson said on Tuesday that the UN health agency had been alerted to the presence of the disease last week and was working alongside Congo’s public health ministry to conduct further investigations.
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