Health officials investigating a disease outbreak in a remote region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo may not have laboratory results that could shed some light on the cause until Saturday, according to the head of the country’s National Public Health Institute.
Dieudonné Mwamba, the agency’s director general, said Thursday that it appears that the outbreak, which is receiving growing international attention, is respiratory in nature, with most cases reporting fever, coughing, and difficulty in breathing.
The outbreak, which was first reported to regional authorities on Oct. 24, has involved 382 cases, of which 79 have been fatal. Over half of the cases — 52% — have been in children under the age of 5.
Mwamba answered questions about the outbreak during a weekly press conference hosted by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
The outbreak is occurring in the Panzi health region, in the province of Kwango, in the southwestern part of DRC. The area is remote, with no local capacity to test samples. Samples from the region have been transported to Kikwit, more than 300 miles away, for testing.
Mwamba and Jean Kaseya, the director general of Africa CDC, declined to offer opinions on what might be behind the outbreak, with Kaseya saying to do so would only be spreading rumors. He suggested at this point it is not known if the illness is being caused by an infectious disease, and if it is, whether the source is bacterial or viral.
