Disease X: More Than 400 Affected By Mystery Illness

More than 400 people have been affected by an undiagnosed illness that some are calling “Disease X,” in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)—specifically, Panzi health zone, Kwango Province, in the southwest of the country.

A spokesperson from the World Health Organization (WHO) told Newsweek on Friday: “Investigations are ongoing and WHO is sending people and supplies to support the authorities.

“The area is rural and remote, with access made harder by the ongoing rainy season. The region is also affected by conflict and malnutrition rates are high.”

A statement by the WHO on Sunday said that, while the risk is “moderate” for those in the DRC and “high” for residents of the affected area, the international risk remains “low.”

Since October 24, a total of 406 cases and 31 deaths from the undiagnosed disease have been officially recorded in the ongoing outbreak, but real figures are likely higher than this.

In a press briefing by the DRC Ministry of Health, officials said there had been a number of as yet unrecorded deaths that happened outside healthcare facilities and still needed to be investigated.

The WHO spokesperson told Newsweek that 44 additional deaths had been reported by the community.

But last week, the Ministry of Health stated on X that 79 people had died and several news organizations reported that up to 143 people had died.

People affected by the disease report flu-like symptoms, such as a fever, cough, fatigue and runny nose, and those who have died were likely to suffer with difficulty breathing, anemia and malnutrition.

Rapid response teams at the scene are testing for multiple possible causes, including pneumonia, influenza, COVID-19, measles, malaria, E. coli infection and more.

“This is a remote area with limited laboratory and other health capacity—there is no laboratory in the region—so it’s possible that it’s an existing pathogen that hasn’t yet been diagnosed,” said the WHO spokesperson. “Laboratory test results are still due, so this is an undiagnosed disease rather than unknown at this time.

“We will have initial lab test results within the next few days from labs in the nearby city of Kiwit.”

Panzi, where this outbreak is taking place, is affected by high levels of food insecurity and malnutrition, as well as malaria—which experts suspect may be contributing to cases.

Few people have been vaccinated, supplies are limited and there is a shortage of healthcare staff in the area.

Efforts to understand and control the illness have been hampered by the area’s lack of facilities and remoteness; it takes approximately 48 hours to travel to the DRC’s capital, Kinshasa, by road.

But a rapid response team was deployed on November 30, a day after the DRC announced the outbreak to international agencies, and on Saturday WHO sent a multidisciplinary team of experts with medical and laboratory equipment to help contain and investigate the disease and help the communities affected by it.

Children have been particularly affected. Those under the age of 15 represent 64.3 percent of cases and 71 percent of deaths, and those under the age of five represent 53 percent of cases and 54.8 percent of deaths.

Hong Kong’s Center for Health Protection on Thursday announced that it would be stepping up health screenings at airports for flights arriving from Africa in response to the situation.

“Reports of outbreaks with fatalities crop up somewhere in the world several times a year,” said Professor Paul Hunter, medical professor at the University of East Anglia, U.K., in a statement.

“Almost all turn out to be an already well-known infection with limited global consequences. But of course, we need to have more information before being able to judge the wider consequences if any of this outbreak.”

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