In recent months, disease monitoring has identified increases in cases and deaths on three occasions across different areas of the country, which triggered follow -up studies to confirm the cause and provide the necessary support that said in a statement.
Symptoms include fever, headaches, chills, sweat, stiff neck, muscle pain, several joint pain and body pain, a continuous or bleeding from the nose, coughing, vomiting and diarrhea.
DRC is currently facing several challenges, with a conflict raging in the East, as the Congolesian armed forces are facing against the Rwanda-supported M23 with the matches involving several other armed groups.
Illness and death
A number of outbreaks and fatalities have taken place in one adequate province since the beginning of 2025, the UN Health Agency said.
The latest cluster took place in the Basankusu Health Zone, where another 141 additional people were sick without death reported so far. About 158 cases and 58 deaths were reported in the same zone earlier in February.
In January, Bolamba Health Zone reported 12 cases including eight deaths.
Big challenges
The department of the affected areas limits access to healthcare, including testing and treatment, who said.
Basankusu and Bolomba are about 180 kilometers apart and more than 300 kilometers from the provincial capital of Mbandaka. The two sites can be reached by road or via the Congo River.
However, poor road and communication connections are major challenges, said the UN Healthy Agency, which continues to support local authorities in strengthening investigations and response measures, with more than 80 community health workers trained to detect and report cases and deaths.
Further efforts are needed to strengthen testing, early case and reporting of time said who remains on the ground that supports health workers who work closely with health authorities at all levels.
Increased monitoring
The UN Health Agency has provided emergency medicine supplies, including test kits, and developed detailed protocols to improve the disease study.
Increased disease surveillance has identified a total of 1,096 sick people and 60 deaths in Basankusu and Bolomba to fit a broad case definition of the mysterious disease.
In response to the latest cluster, a nationally fast response team from Kinshasa and oneonur, including WHO’s emergency experts, was deployed to Basankusu and Bolomba to investigate the situation.
The experts increase the monitoring of illness and conduct interviews with members of the community to understand the background and provide treatment of diseases such as malaria, typhoid and meningitis that reported.
Ongoing test
The first laboratory analysis has produced negative results for Ebola virus disease and Marburg virus disease.
About half of the samples tested positive for malaria, which is common in the region that said.
Additional tests must be performed for meningitis. Food, water and environmental samples are also analyzed for any possible pollution.
