A Possibly-New Strain Of Disease -- Flu-Like, But Lethal -- Emerges In Kwango Province, DRC: A Remote Congo Area...

Well. . . this is troubling news, for Sub-Saharan Central Africa, to be sure. We'd been following it silently for a week, with a desire to have more clarity on the specifics, of the viral (or less probably, the bacterial) agent at work. . . but that is all still a variable, as I write this.

I will admit that I am not a fan of calling this "Disease X" -- as that mostly generates fear, rather than illumination, given the number of articles (some grounded in science, but more, not so) after COVID -- about a "next time" pandemic Disease X. Hopefully, it will be run to ground by the weekend -- as to source agent(s).

Again, both CIDRAP and the BBC (and now WHO) are confirming the deepening mystery. The afflicted thus far, in the remote western Panzi health zone of Kwango Province, do not seem to exhibit classic Mpox, or Marburg, or even Ebola. . . symptoms. So on the ground teams are working to isolate the actual biological agent responsible for the deaths. Even the estimates of dead patients is widely bracketed, as no definitive diagnosis exists for any of the dead. The currently ill are being closely monitored, but a crushing problem there is a lack of access to modern medicines and diagnostic kits, in this remote region of the DRC.

Quoted below is the latest, via CIDRAP, at the U. of Minnesota [but to be more complete, here is the Beeb report link as well]:

. . .The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is investigating the cause of an outbreak of an unknown disease centered in Kwango province that has so far sickened at least 376 people, with death counts ranging from 67 to 143, since late October.

The main symptoms are fever, headache, runny nose, breathing problems, and anemia, according to the infectious disease tracking blog FluTrackers, which has been following reports of cases for the past week. . . .

[T]he Associated Press reported yesterday there have been from 67 to 143 fatalities.

Reuters says women and children are the most seriously affected by the disease, and the DRC statement says the illness has been most lethal in children over the age of 15.

The DRC notified the World Health Organization of the outbreak last week. The case-patients live in rural areas with limited access to medications, sources told Reuters. . . .

Let's hope we do NOT get word that this is an entirely new, and unknown vector. Onward -- resolutely, just the same.

नमस्ते