The Department of Preventive Medicine - Ministry of Health on the evening of December 11 quoted information from the World Health Organization (WHO) saying that in the Panzi area, Kwango province, Democratic Republic of Congo, 406 cases of an unknown disease have been recorded, including 31 deaths.
Regarding the 'mysterious' epidemic in Congo, it is known that the outbreak is occurring in a rural area, in a remote province far from the capital Kinshasa (48 hours by road). This area has also experienced food shortages in recent months; poor medical conditions, low vaccination rates, and very limited access to diagnosis and case management.
Symptoms of the disease include fever, headache, cough, runny nose and muscle pain. Cases are mainly in children (53% of cases and 54.8% of deaths are under 5 years old) and all severe cases are severely malnourished.
It is also the rainy season so access to medical services is very difficult (affecting the determination of the cause of the disease).
Malaria is common in the area and is being identified as a possible cause of the cases; however, malaria control measures are very limited.
The Department of Preventive Medicine also informed that currently, the World Health Organization assesses the risk level for affected communities in the epidemic area as high based on information on limitations in the provision and access to health services; low vaccination rates; difficult living conditions, food, and transportation in the area and at the same time records initial information on clusters of cases in family clusters, showing the possibility of spreading within households.
However, at the national level in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the risk is considered moderate as the current outbreak is localized in the Panzi area, Kwango province, although there is still the potential for spread to neighboring areas.
At the regional and global levels, WHO assesses the risk as low; only attention is paid to monitoring at the border with the neighboring country near the outbreak area, Angola.
Several countries in the region also assessed the risk of disease introduction from the Democratic Republic of Congo as low, due to very low numbers of visitors from the region and no direct flights from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
"In case of new developments, the Department of Preventive Medicine will coordinate with the World Health Organization, the US CDC and relevant units to assess the risks and propose appropriate responses, including strengthening medical quarantine work," said Dr. Hoang Minh Duc, Director of the Department of Preventive Medicine.
The Department of Preventive Medicine will continue to monitor and closely follow the developments of the epidemic situation; proactively conduct event-based surveillance with information about the epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo; coordinate with the World Health Organization and IHR focal points of countries to update and share information about the epidemic.
