The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has said it is expected to diagnose a suspected “Disease X’ which has killed at least 79 people in the Panzi district of Kwango Province.
The country’s Director-General of Health, Dr Dieudonné Mwamba, disclosed this during a bi-weekly media briefing hosted by Africa’s Centre for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that Disease X is a term coined by the World Health Organization (WHO) to describe a hypothetical, unknown pathogen that could cause a future epidemic or pandemic.
It represents the idea that the next major global health threat may arise from a disease that is not yet identified or understood.
Disease X emphasises the need for global preparedness and robust public health systems to respond to emerging diseases.
The concept gained attention following outbreaks like SARS, Ebola, and COVID-19, which emerged unexpectedly and had significant global impacts.
Disease X could be caused by a novel virus, bacteria, or other pathogen that has the potential to spread rapidly and cause severe illness or death.
Mwamba said that the disease is characterised by fever, headaches, cough and sometimes difficulty in breathing.
According to him, so far, around 376 people have been infected and the disease appears to be airborne.
“Females are slightly more affected than males, and the majority of cases (52 per cent) are under the age of five.
“The second biggest group of patients is people aged over 25 (almost 30 per cent).
“Given that we do not have a specific diagnosis, we do not know whether we are faced with a viral or bacterial disease.
“We, however, believe that in under 48 hours, the results of the laboratories will help us,” he said.
He said that people in the impoverished rural Panzi district were “vulnerable” as there is a malnutrition rate of almost 40 per cent, and it recently experienced a serious typhoid outbreak.
“The DRC is also experiencing a seasonal influenza outbreak.
“Panzi can not test the specimens taken from patients with the unknown disease, so they have been sent to a laboratory in Kikwit some 500km away,” he said.
Meanwhile, Dr Jean Kaseya, Africa CDC Director-General, said that the first case of the unknown illness was identified on Oct. 24 in the largely rural south-eastern province bordering Angola.
Kaseya said that central authorities were only notified of a possible outbreak on Dec. 1.
“We want to reinforce the surveillance. We have a delay of almost five to six weeks, and in that time, so many things can happen.
“This is why we are supporting the country to build strong capacity for surveillance,” Kaseya said.
He disclosed that a team from Africa CDC, including an epidemiologist and laboratory and infection prevention control (IPC) experts, was being sent to Panzi on Friday to assist officials
He also said that Mpox continued to spread, particularly in Central Africa, with 2,700 new cases in the past week, up from 2,618 new cases the previous week.
He said that the outbreak had affected 20 African countries.
“After laboratory testing, Zambia and Zimbabwe have confirmed that their outbreaks are Clade 1b. In total, we have 62,171 cases.
“Last week, we lost 36 people, and that brings a total of 1,200 deaths since January,” he said
However, he said that only 13, 579 of the cases had been clinically confirmed as laboratory testing remained a challenge in many areas.
According to him, the DRC remains the worst affected by Mpox, with both clade 1a and 1b circulating.
“The lion’s share of the week’s new cases, 2,115, were identified in the DRC and all 36 of the week’s deaths were in the DRC.
“However, testing remains a challenge in the country, with only 20 per cent of cases confirmed by laboratories,” he said.
He said that the Africa CDC also flagged the links between high burdens of Mpox cases and measles cases in DRC, but had not yet established a causal link between the two diseases.
NAN recalls that Mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, is a viral disease caused by the monkeypox virus.
It is similar to smallpox, though generally less severe.
Mpox is characterised by symptoms such as fever, rash, and swollen lymph nodes.
The disease can spread from animals to humans, as well as between humans through close contact, respiratory droplets, and contaminated objects.
The World Health Organization (WHO) and other health bodies renamed monkeypox to “Mpox ” in 2022 to reduce the stigma and discrimination associated with the original name.(NAN)