It remains unclear whether there is actually a ‘disease. The African health authority CDC Africa said that the samples from the affected area in Panzi were in poor condition. Therefore, there is no further information yet. Additional samples must now be obtained.
CDC Director General Jean Kaseya said he was in contact with Placide Mbala, head of the Institute of Epidemiology in the Congolese capital Kinshasa. According to Mbala, no swabs were taken on site from the nose and throat of possibly infected people.
In a message, Mbala said: “We are still carrying out some preliminary analyses, but we will wait for new samples to determine what is going on and possibly identify the pathogen.”
Three days to reach territory
A multidisciplinary team from the Congolese health authorities, the CDC and the World Health Organization (WHO) is on its way to obtain new samples, according to Kaseya. “But we are talking about 700 kilometers – it takes three days from Kinshasa to Panzi,” he pointed out the poor connections to the remote area in Kwango province, near the border with Angola. “We are not providing any official information about this disease at this time.”
Dieudonné Mwamba, director of the Institute of National Health in Kinshasa, confirmed that several of the samples examined tested positive for malaria. However, whether the patients suffered only from malaria or from a previously unknown disease could only be determined after further investigation.
‘Disease X’ unlikely
Aid organization Doctors Without Borders, whose employees provide on-site support, does not assume that it is a pathogen that is not yet known. It is almost always the case that an observed increase in deaths can be traced back to known or best-known pathogens, Marcus Bachmann of Doctors Without Borders Austria said on Thursday in response to a question from the APA. “It is very unlikely that this is disease X, Y or Z.”
According to previous results, most cases are likely due to malaria. Many of those affected are children under the age of five who are acutely malnourished; many are severely or moderately malnourished. “The combination is a life-threatening mix,” Bachmann reported. This often results in a complicated form of malaria.
More than 500 suspected cases
Since the end of October, 527 cases of the disease have been recorded. Among them are 225 children up to five years old, as Kaseya said. The World Health Organization (WHO) spoke of 31 deaths, the local authorities of more than 130 deaths
Source: Krone
I am Wallace Jones, an experienced journalist. I specialize in writing for the world section of Today Times Live. With over a decade of experience, I have developed an eye for detail when it comes to reporting on local and global stories. My passion lies in uncovering the truth through my investigative skills and creating thought-provoking content that resonates with readers worldwide.
