The Daily Populous Friday December 6th, 2024 morning edition
Authored by ctvnews.ca and submitted by CTVNEWS

Public health officials in Africa urged caution Thursday as Congo's health minister said the government was on alert over a mystery flu-like disease that in recent weeks killed dozens of people.

Jean Kaseya, the head of Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told reporters that more details about the disease should be known in the next 48 hours as experts receive results from laboratory samples of infected people.

"First diagnostics are leading us to think it is a respiratory disease," Kaseya said. "But we need to wait for the laboratory results." He added that there are many things that are still unknown about the disease -- including whether it is infectious and how it is transmitted.

Authorities in Congo have so far confirmed 71 deaths, including 27 people who died in hospitals and 44 in the community in the southern Kwango province, health minister Roger Kamba said.

"The Congolese government is on general alert regarding this disease," Kamba said, without providing more details.

Of the victims at the hospitals, 10 died due to lack of blood transfusion and 17 as a result of respiratory problems, he said.

The deaths were recorded between Nov. 10 and Nov. 25 in the Panzi health zone of Kwango province. There were around 380 cases, almost half of which were children under the age of five, according to the minister.

The Africa CDC recorded slightly different numbers, with 376 cases and 79 deaths. The discrepancy was caused by problems with surveillance and case definition, Kaseya said.

Authorities have said that symptoms include fever, headache, cough and anemia. Epidemiological experts are in the region to take samples and investigate the disease, the minister said.

The Panzi health zone, located around 435 miles (700 kilometres) from the capital Kinshasa, is a remote area of the Kwango province, making it hard to access.

The epidemiological experts took two days to arrive there, the minister said. Because of the lack of testing capacity, samples had to be taken to Kikwit, more than 500 km away, said Dieudonne Mwamba, the head of the National Institute for Public Health.

"The health system is quite weak in our rural areas, but for certain types of care, the ministry has all the provisions, and we are waiting for the first results of the sample analysis to properly calibrate things," Kaseya said.

Mwamba said that Panzi was already a "fragile" zone, with 40 per cent of its residents experiencing malnutrition. It was also hit by an epidemic of typhoid fever two years ago, and there is currently a resurgence of seasonal flu across the country.

"We need to take into account all this as context," Mwamba said.

A Panzi resident, Claude Niongo, said his wife and seven-year-old daughter died from the disease.

"We do not know the cause but I only noticed high fevers, vomiting... and then death," Niongo told The Associated Press over the phone. "Now, the authorities are talking to us about an epidemic but in the meantime, there is a problem of care (and) people are dying," he added.

Lucien Lufutu, president of the civil society consultation framework of Kwango province, who is in Panzi, said the local hospital where patients are treated is underequipped.

"There is a lack of medicines and medical supplies, since the disease is not yet known, most of the population is treated by traditional practitioners," Lufutu told the AP.

He also said the disease affected Katenda, another nearby health zone.

When asked about a potential outbreak in other health zones, the minister said he could not tell if that was the case but that nothing was reported.

Congo is already plagued by the mpox epidemic, with more than 47,000 suspected cases and over 1,000 suspected deaths from the disease in the Central African country, according to the World Health Organization.

The Associated Press receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Gates Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

enterpriseF-love on December 5th, 2024 at 18:22 UTC »

Hong Kong is the first to step up health screening at airports in response to this outbreak. Full list of symptoms so far are mostly nonspecific: coughing, fever, muscle ache, runny nose, headache, difficulty breathing, anemia. More concerning is that 52% of cases are in children under the age of 5. Per Africa CDC, lab results are expected Friday or Saturday because of how remote the region is and how long it's taking to ship samples and conduct tests safely. Too early to confidently say if it's bacterial, viral, vector-borne etc. Could even be environmental (toxin etc.) but seems unlikely. Just speculating but assuming the anemia is truly a symptom and not a pre-existing condition (due to high burden in DRC stemming from nutritional deficiencies/infections), it might point to a bacterial infection. Should note that since Oct 24th, we have ~400 cases primarily presenting with flu-like symptoms; disproportionately affecting young children. Many infectious diseases can cause anemia but children are very susceptible to TB at an early age. Aside from TB, stuff like HIV, Hep C, non-typhoidal salmonella, leptospirosis cause anemia but are less likely the culprit due to respiratory symptoms. Considering the region, might be possible that some patients have co-infection which would explain anemia. ie: malaria, schistosomiasis. On the other hand, we're just a few days past the 5th anniversary of COVID-19's first case so... it's not impossible it's a new pathogen.

StatisticianFair930 on December 5th, 2024 at 16:40 UTC »

Panzi resident, Claude Niongo, said his wife and seven-year-old daughter died from the disease.

“We do not know the cause but I only noticed high fevers, vomiting... and then death,”

That is rather tragic and scary indeed.

mrplinko on December 5th, 2024 at 16:29 UTC »

At Costco rn, buying all the TP.