What happened
At least 53 people have died in two clusters of an unknown illness in the Democratic Republican of Congo, the World Health Organization said Tuesday. The outbreak, in Equateur province, was traced back to three children under age 5 in one village who had eaten a dead bat. The children, like a significant portion of the other fatalities, had symptoms similar to a hemorrhagic fever — nosebleeds, diarrhea, fever and vomiting blood — and died within 48 hours.
Who said what
The WHO said that with 431 cases as of Feb. 16 and a fatality rate of 12.3%, the outbreak posed a "significant public health threat." All 18 samples sent to Kinshasa for testing came back negative for common hemorrhagic fever diseases such as Ebola and Marburg, the WHO said, and the "exact cause remains unknown." The short interval between the onset of symptoms and death is "really worrying," Serge Ngalebato, the medical director of the regional Bikoro Hospital, said to The Associated Press.
What next?
A "genuinely new illness" sometimes emerges, as with Covid-19, "but it is very rare," Michael Head, a global health researcher at Britain's University of Southampton, said to The Washington Post. The spread of "hemorrhagic fever–like symptoms" in a country with poor public health infrastructure is "concerning," but usually it turns out to be "a bug" that "we know about." A flu-like disease that killed dozens in southwestern Congo in December was later determined to have been caused by malaria.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
5 seriously spooky cartoons about HalloweenCartoons Artists take on the GOP boogeyman, a white sheet, and more
-
Political cartoons for October 25Cartoons Saturday’s political cartoons include hospital bill trauma, Independence Day, and more
-
Roasted squash and apple soup recipeThe Week Recommends Autumnal soup is full of warming and hearty flavours
-
Climate change is getting under our skinUnder the radar Skin conditions are worsening because of warming temperatures
-
Is this the end of ultraprocessed foods?Today's Big Question California law and the MAHA movement are on the same track
-
Bluetoothing: the phenomenon driving HIV spike in FijiUnder the Radar ‘Blood-swapping’ between drug users fuelling growing health crisis on Pacific island
-
FDA OKs generic abortion pill, riling the rightSpeed Read The drug in question is a generic version of mifepristone, used to carry out two-thirds of US abortions
-
The new Stratus Covid strain – and why it’s on the riseThe Explainer ‘No evidence’ new variant is more dangerous or that vaccines won’t work against it, say UK health experts
-
‘Nightmare bacteria’ are rapidly spreadingUnder the radar The infections are largely resistant to antibiotics
-
Kissing bug disease has a growing presence in the USThe explainer The disease has yielded a steady stream of cases in the last 10 years
-
Climate change is making us eat more sugarUnder the radar Sweets make the heat feel more manageable
