'Mystery disease' victims in Congo have malaria, could be sick with multiple diseases: WHO

The ‘mystery disease’ ravaging Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) rural south could be a combination of multiple diseases, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

WHO Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said that at least 10 patients sick from the so-called mystery disease in southern DRC east have tested for malaria. He added that patients could have more than one disease simultaneously.

“Of the 12 initial samples collected, 10 tested positive for malaria, although it’s possible that more than one disease is involved. Further samples will be collected and tested to determine the exact cause or causes,” said a WHO spokesperson on Tuesday (December 10), according to Guardian.

Since late October, the WHO has said that more than 400 cases of the unidentified disease have been recorded in the DRC’s Kwango province. Separately, DRC authorities have said that the disease has killed at least 79 people, with most of the victims being children under five.

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The main symptoms of the disease are flu, headaches, coughing, breathing difficulties, and anaemia.

Last week, DRC’s National Institute of Public Helth (NIPH) chief Dieudonne Mwamba said the symptoms pointed to a respiratory illness, but it was hard to know whether a virus or bacteria was treating the sickness.

Even though media organisations have labelled the sickness as ‘Disease X’, a reference to the unknown pathogen that is bound to infect people at some point with the potential of causing another pandemic, the WHO has continued to emphasise that it is considering the disease at the moment as “an undiagnosed disease rather than an unknown” one, according to Guardian.

As the region of DRC being ravaged by the disease lacks basic diagnostic facilities, with samples being tested at labs 300-400 miles (482-643 kilometers) away. Moreover, the healthcare resources of the country as the DRC has also been hit hard by an mpox outbreak, which the WHO declared as a global emergency earlier this year. The violence in the country has also worsened the access to healthcare.

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Since being roped into action late last month, the WHO dispatched a team of experts, including epidemiologists, clinicians, laboratory technicians, and infection prevention and control specialists to address the situation, which arrived in DRC on Tuesday, said Ghebreyesus.

Currently, the WHO is investigating how the disease is spreading and whether it is spreading from one person to another.