Democratic Republic of the Congo: Cluster of illness and deaths due to unknown etiology
The Minister of Public Health, Hygiene and Social Security, Dr. Samuel-Roger Kamba, provided an update on febrile illnesses in Basankusu, in the Equateur province, during the Council of Ministers meeting on Friday, March 21 in Kinshasa.
Officials report a total of 37 new cases and 1 death were recorded from March 10 to 16, 2025.
The cumulative total thus amounts to 2,957 reported cases with 58 deaths, representing a fatality rate of 1.96%, officials state.
No new cases have been reported from the cluster in Bolomba Health Zone, which previously recorded 12 cases with 8 deaths (CFR 66.7%), predominantly among children under five years old, between 10 and 27 January 2025. In total, 2969 cases with 66 deaths (CFR 2.2%) have been reported in the two separate clusters.
The definitive cause of illness in both outbreaks remains undetermined. However, testing has ruled out Ebola and Marburg virus diseases. Among 571 samples tested for malaria in the Basankusu cluster using rapid diagnostic tests, 309 (54.1%) returned positive.
The primary clinical manifestations of cases include fever, chills, headache, myalgia, polyarthralgia, body aches, sweating, rhinorrhoea, neck pain, cough, vomiting, diarrhoea, anorexia, dyspnoea, and abdominal cramps. Among children under five years old, most have presented with objective fever ≥38.0°C (93.6%), chills (79.8%), vomiting (76.6%), abdominal pain (76.6%), and dyspnoea (73.4%). Differential diagnoses under investigation include meningitis, malaria, food or water poisoning, and typhoid fever.