Disease control agency on alert for undiagnosed disease in Congo
The Department of Disease Control (DDC) revealed on Thursday that it is closely monitoring the outbreak of an undiagnosed disease in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Citing a report from Congo’s Health Ministry, DDC director-general Dr Panumas Yanwetsakul said the outbreak took place in the Panzi health zone in Kwango province on October 24, where the number of patients and fatalities continued to increase.
According to the Africa Centres for Disease Control as of December 9, the number of patients and fatalities due to an undiagnosed disease were 527 and 32, respectively, he said, adding that 19 children aged below five years old were among fatalities.
Among patients suffering from the undiagnosed disease, 42.7% are aged below five years, followed by 5-9 years (25.4%), over 25 years (22.6%), 20-24 years (3.6%), 10-14 years (3%) and 15-19 years (2.4%). Symptoms commonly found among patients included fever, cough and fatigue.
Panumas said the Ministry of Health of Democratic Republic of the Congo held a press conference on December 5, saying that more unconfirmed fatalities were reported in 9 out of 30 areas in the Panzi health zone.
Symptoms included difficulty in breathing, anaemia and acute malnutrition, he added.
He noted that the World Health Organisation has collaborated with the Ministry of Health of Democratic Republic of the Congo on deploying a team to the zone to monitor, investigate and conduct lab tests to seek the cause of the outbreak and take appropriate measures.
Panumas confirmed that the risk of people in Thailand developing an undiagnosed disease was low. However, he said relevant agencies have been tasked to monitor the situation closely.
Staff at international communicable disease control checkpoints have been instructed to strictly screen visitors from countries and areas at risk of an undiagnosed disease, he said.
He affirmed that the DDC has measures to screen visitors from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, saying that it was among 42 countries at risk of yellow fever.
Panumas also asked people not to panic about the outbreak, adding that they could contact the department’s hotline 1422 for more information.
