Mystery illness kills more than 50 within hours of presenting symptoms

A mystery illness has killed more than 50 people within hours of patients presenting symptoms, prompting an urgent warning from doctors on the ground.

A mystery illness in the Congo has killed more than 50 people within hours of patients presenting symptoms, prompting an urgent warning from doctors on the ground.

According to the World Health Organisation, the outbreak began on January 21, with 419 cases of the illness recorded since.

Serge Ngalebato, the medical director of Bikoro Hospital in a regional monitoring centre, said of the 53 people who had died as a result — the time of symptoms presenting to the point of death was around 48 hours.

“That’s really worrying,” he said.

According to WHO’s Africa office, the first recorded case was in the town of Boloko, and began after three children ate a bat and died within 2 days following haemorrhagic fever symptoms.

Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) Prime Minister Judith Suminwa delivers a speech at the opening of the 58th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, on February 24, 2025. Picture: Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP.

In February, when a second outbreak of the current mystery disease began in the town of Bomate, samples from 13 cases were sent to the National Institute for Biomedical Research in Congo’s capital, Kinshasa, for testing.

The WHO said all samples tested negative for Ebola or other common haemorrhagic fever diseases — prompting the ‘mystery’ label around the outbreak. The organisation said some samples, however, tested positive for malaria.

The symptoms of the illness include fever, vomiting and internal bleeding.

The news comes just weeks after Argentina said it will quit the World Health Organisation, following in the footsteps of Donald Trump’s United States and citing similar complaints over the UN body’s management of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The mystery illness has rapidly killed more than 50 people in northwestern Congo

Railing against the economic fallout of Covid-19 lockdowns, President Javier Milei lamented “one of the most bizarre crimes against humanity” as he explained the reasons for the move.

Argentina’s self-declared “anarcho-capitalist” leader said the WHO had been “the executing arm of what was the greatest experiment in social control in history.”

The South American country announced its withdrawal from the UN health agency two weeks after Trump, an ideological ally and hero of Milei, signalled Washington’s planned exit.

Milei’s decision was based on “deep differences regarding health management especially during the pandemic,” spokesman Manuel Adorni told reporters earlier, adding Argentina would not “allow an international body to interfere in our sovereignty.”

Argentina had been hard hit by the pandemic, with about 130,000 deaths, and Milei’s predecessor Alberto Fernandez imposed a five-month lockdown in 2020 widely perceived as crippling for a struggling economy.

Adorni insisted withdrawing from the WHO gave Argentina “greater flexibility to implement policies adapted to the context” locally, while ensuring “greater availability of resources.”

– with AFP