Mystery illness in Congo kills more than 50 people, including children who ate a bat

An unknown illness has killed over 50 people in the northwest of the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to doctors in the central African nation and the World Health Organization.

The interval between the onset of symptoms and death has been just 48 hours in the majority of cases, and “that’s what’s really worrying,” Serge Ngalebato, medical director of Bikoro Hospital, a regional monitoring center, told The Associated Press on Monday.  

The latest disease outbreak in Congo began on Jan. 21, and 419 cases had been recorded as of Monday, including 53 deaths.

According to the WHO’s Africa office, the first outbreak in the town of Boloko began after three children ate a bat and died within 48 hours following hemorrhagic fever symptoms.

There have long been concerns about diseases jumping from animals to humans in places where wild animals are popularly eaten. The number of such outbreaks in Africa has surged by more than 60% in the last decade, the WHO said in 2022.

After the second outbreak of the current mystery disease began in the town of Bomate on Feb. 9, samples from 13 cases have been sent to the National Institute for Biomedical Research in Congo’s capital, Kinshasa, for testing, the WHO said.

All samples have been negative for Ebola or other common hemorrhagic fever diseases like Marburg. Some tested positive for malaria.

Last year, another mystery flu-like illness that killed more than 143 people in another part of Congo was determined to be likely malaria.

Congo has suffered from many disease outbreaks in recent years, including typhoid, malaria and anemia. The country has also recently grappled with an mpox outbreak, according to the WHO, with more than 47,000 suspected cases and over 1,000 suspected deaths from the disease.