Mysterious disease in the DRC: the European Union says it is “closely monitoring the situation”

The European Union " follows closely "the still unknown disease that is raging in the southwest of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), assured a spokesperson for the Commission on December 9, who emphasizes that no similar case has been recorded in Europe." Obviously, we are following the situation closely. (…) We are trying to gather information", in conjunction with the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), an EU agency, spokeswoman Eva Hrncirova told reporters in Brussels.

Of theECDC experts " are mobilized. " We are also cooperating with the World Health Organization (WHO). The nature of this disease is not yet known. It is occurring in a fairly remote province in the southwest » from the DRC « and that complicates the situation a little." she emphasized. " The only thing I can say, and this is very important, is that no cases of this unknown disease have been reported in Europe.", insisted this spokesperson.

Symptoms similar to those of the flu

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The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is on "maximum alert" after the detection of a mysterious disease that has already killed dozens of people in just over a month according to the latest estimates, the health minister said on December 5. The phenomenon described by health authorities as " an unknown public health event " is currently located in the Panzi region, some 700 km from Kinshasa. The first cases were detected at the end of October.

In the remote region of Panzi, which is difficult to access and has almost no health infrastructure, the population lives in generalized precariousness, suffering from a lack of access to drinking water and medicines. According to the first available data, the mysterious disease particularly affects the youngest, with 40% of cases involving children under five years old. The symptoms are similar to those of flu: fever, cough and headaches.

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The DRC has already been hit hard in recent months by the mpox virus with more than 1,000 deaths. Among the poorest on the planet, the country has recently seen the number of cases of this disease – formerly called monkeypox – decrease slightly.