Mysterious disease that has killed at least 50 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been identified

Health officials in the Democratic Republic of Congo say a mysterious illness that has killed at least 50 people in the northwest of the country is likely malaria or food poisoning.

Speaking to reporters, the director general of the Democratic Republic of Congo's Public Health Institute, Dieudonne Mwamba, said that at least 943 people have fallen ill and 52 have died in Equateur province with symptoms such as fever, fatigue, vomiting and weight loss.

According to the diagnosis of local health officials, it is likely that the patients had malaria or food poisoning, related to eating wild animals.

According to this official, 78% of the test samples tested positive for malaria virus and 12% of the test samples tested negative for dengue virus.

Sharing this view, Dr. Ngashi Ngongo of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that test results are also pointing towards malaria.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), in Equateur province there were 1,096 cases of the disease and 60 deaths with symptoms consistent with the definition of malaria.

However, WHO has not completely ruled out other causes.