CBC Democratic Republic of Congo’s health ministry said on Tuesday that a previously unidentified disease circulating in the southwestern Kwango province is a severe form of malaria.
Earlier this month, local authorities said the disease had killed 143 people in the country’s Panzi health zone in November. The symptoms of the disease are fever, headache, cough, runny nose and body aches.
“The mystery has finally been solved. It’s a case of severe malaria in the form of a respiratory illness,” the health ministry said in a statement, adding malnutrition in the area had weakened the local population, leaving them more vulnerable to disease.