from JEAN KASSONGO in Kinshasa, DRC
DRC Bureau
KINSHASA, (CAJ News) – DOZENS of lives have been lost while more than 500 cases were recorded in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as an unknown, but suspected influenza continues to wreak havoc, health experts have said.
Public Health Minister Roger Kamba told the media that as of October, about 592 cases of the illness have been recorded in the Panzi health zone of the southwestern Kwango province.
He said most patients being treated exhibited influenza symptoms pointing out this unknown disease coincided with the seasonal outbreak of flu in the DR Congo.
Speaking at a separate event, the government spokesperson, Patrick Muyaya, said laboratory tests showed 28 percent prevalence of the influenza virus were “significant presence” of human rhinovirus and SARS-CoV-2 in the samples, which accounted for the respiratory infections identified.
Muyaya said the ministry of health was yet to provide further clarification of the disease while the government issued a high alert in response to the alarming development.
The disease outbreak, which is being monitored by the African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) is widely believed to have claimed 37 lives in the country’s different health facilities.
Among the dead were children under the age of five while health investigators are currently busy examining additional deaths of 44 other people linked to the outbreak.
The World Health Organization (WHO) issued a statement indicating the illness might have involved acute pneumonia, influenza, COVID-19, measles, malaria, alongside malnutrition that compromise the health situation for patients in question.
– CAJ News