Malaria endures in northwest Congo as officials seek cause of illnesses that have sickened hundreds

Men sit outside the general hospital in Basankusu, Democratic Republic of the Congo, where some victims of unidentified illnesses are being treated, Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Guy Masele Sanganga)

BASANKUSU, CONGO — Hundreds of people have tested positive for malaria in northwest Congo as health officials try to understand what may be behind a surge of illnesses that has surpassed 1,000 cases and killed at least 60 people.

The World Health Organization said that while malaria — a mosquito-borne disease — is prevalent in Congo’s Equateur province, it has not yet ruled out other causes. It is unclear if the outbreaks are related, the U.N. health agency said in an update Thursday.

“Detailed epidemiological and clinical investigations, as well as further laboratory testing, are (still) needed,” WHO’s Africa office said.

It said nearly 1,100 cases have been reported since the first outbreaks were discovered in two villages more than 100 miles apart in late January.

Africa’s top public health agency said infections have been detected in at five villages and that the agency is investigating whether water or food could be the cause of the infections, along with flu and typhoid.

However, tests are “pointing toward malaria,” Dr. Ngashi Ngongo of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in an online briefing Thursday.

The first infections

The first outbreak was detected in the village of Boloko after three children ate a bat and died within 48 hours. WHO has recorded 12 cases and eight deaths in Boloko. Nearly half of the people who died did so within hours of the onset of symptoms, health officials said this week.

The village of Bomate, which is around 200 kilometers (125 miles) from Boloko, has been hardest hit: 98 per cent of the cases and 86 per cent of deaths have been recorded in Bomate in the Basankusu health zone, WHO said. Of 571 patients in Basankusu who were tested for malaria, 309 — 54.1 per cent — tested positive, it said.

Patients have shown common malaria symptoms such as fever and body aches. Other symptoms include chills, sweating, stiff neck, runny or bleeding nose, cough, vomiting and diarrhea.

Sickness breeds fear among residents

Eddy Djoboke said he and his family fled Bomate because they were afraid of falling sick. After they left, one of his children complained his neck and stomach hurt, suggesting he may have been infected before they fled.

“We were asked to have tests done and we are waiting for what happens next,” Djoboke said.

Marthe Biyombe, said her child became infected in Bomate and was suffering from body aches and fever. She said the hospital struggled to treat her child because of a lack of medication, but that she was able to buy drugs privately and WHO doctors eventually arrived with more supplies.

“When we arrived at the hospital, we went two weeks without medicine. There were no medicines and we bought the medicines elsewhere (before) the WHO doctors came and started giving us the medicines,” Biyombe said. She did not describe the drugs given to her child.

Experts say access to the sick has been hindered by the remote locations of the affected villages and that several people died before medical teams were able to reach them.

Article written by Chinedu Asadu, Guy Masele Sanganga And Jean-yves Kamale.

Asadu reported from Abuja. Associated Press journalist Rodney Muhumuza in Kampala, Uganda contributed.