Outbreak kills 100 in Congo
More than 100 people have died in a remote part of Congo, including all those who attended the funerals of two village chiefs, in what health officials fear is an outbreak of hemorrhagic fever.
People began dying of the suspected fever after the funerals in Mweka, a region of southeastern Congo where relatives usually wash the bodies of the deceased, said Jean-Constatin Kanow, chief medical inspector for the province.
The Democratic Republic of Congo, formerly Zaire, has seen outbreaks of Marburg and Ebola, hemorrhagic fevers caused by viruses that can attack the central nervous system and cause bleeding from the eyes, ears and other parts of the body.
“Everyone that attended those funerals is now dead,” Kanow said. “We began by suspecting typhoid fever, but now we believe it’s hemorrhagic fever.”
Four villages are affected and 217 people became ill, including 103 who died. Of the dead, three were children, Kanow said.
Two medical teams from the province’s administrative seat have been sent to Mweka, an area with a population of 140,000.
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