Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, PhD, said that, of 12 samples, 10 were positive for malaria.
He added that more samples will be collected and tested to determine the exact cause or causes.
Telecommunications in the area are severely limited, and difficult access to the outbreak region has been made worse by the rainy season.
He said the epidemiologic data don’t show an explosive increase in cases or deaths.
Mike Ryan, MD, who leads the WHO’s health emergencies program, praised DRC health officials for their work on the outbreak.
At a briefing today in Geneva, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) stated that although malaria was detected in multiple samples from patients in an unexplained illness outbreak in a remote area of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), it is possible that multiple diseases are involved.
According to Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, PhD, 10 out of 12 samples tested positive for malaria. He went on to say that additional samples will be gathered and examined in order to pinpoint the precise cause or causes.
significant barriers to communication and access.
About 425 miles from Kinshasa, in the isolated Panzi health district in the southwestern Democratic Republic of the Congo, 416 cases and 31 fatalities have been reported thus far. The majority of cases involve kids under the age of 14.
After traveling for several days, a team of national experts arrived today to support a Kwango province team that has been there since November 30, Tedros said. There is very little telecommunication in the area, and the rainy season has made it even harder to get to the outbreak area.
Children in the region are particularly vulnerable due to the high rates of malnutrition and low vaccination rates.
“The region also experiences high rates of malnourishment and low vaccination rates, which exposes children to a variety of illnesses such as measles, pneumonia, and malaria,” he stated.
No sudden increase in cases or fatalities.
The WHO’s interim director of alert and response coordination, Abdi Mahamud, MD, stated that the region has an endemic malaria problem and that the rise in respiratory illnesses during the rainy season is within normal bounds. For instance, he claimed that flu and COVID activity is on the rise in Kinshasa.
The epidemiologic data, he said, do not indicate a sharp rise in cases or fatalities. However, he noted that the high infant mortality rate indicates that Panzi and other vulnerable areas need to address the problem.
DRC health officials were commended for their efforts on the outbreak by Mike Ryan, MD, who heads the WHO’s health emergencies program. He stated that officials acknowledged the cluster was sufficiently unusual to warrant reporting to the WHO. This indicates that even in a harsh setting, a system is functioning. “.
This is evidence that a system functions even in harsh conditions.
In addition, he stated that officials are coordinating with the US government to organize an airlift into an airport located 150 kilometers (93 miles) away from Panzi.
