An outbreak of an unidentified infection with high mortality and rapid onset of death has been registered in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the World Health Organization said in an emergency bulletin. As of February 15, 431 cases and 53 deaths have been recorded in two outbreaks in the Equateur Province in the northwest of the country (the case fatality rate is 12.3 percent, with the outbreak with 12 cases being 66.7 percent). In 48.9 percent of those who died, death occurred no later than 48 hours after the onset of the first symptoms. The main clinical manifestations include fever, chills, headache, muscle pain, and pain in the whole body, sweating, runny nose, stiff neck, cough, vomiting, diarrhea, and intestinal colic.
The outbreak was initially thought to be caused by Ebola fever, which is endemic in the region. However, an analysis of biospecimens from 18 patients conducted by the National Institute for Biomedical Research in Kinshasa did not reveal any Ebola or Marburg fever pathogens. Other analyses, including metagenomic ones, are currently underway. Differential diagnostics include malaria, viral hemorrhagic fever, water or food poisoning, typhoid fever and meningitis. The source of infection and epidemiological links between the two outbreaks have not yet been established.