“Investigation of Congo’s mysterious disease is deadly, and unidentified disease spreads, he said

The World Health Organization said on Thursday that its “investigation deepened” became a mysterious disease suspected of killing more than 60 people in the Northern Democratic Republic of the Congo over the past five weeks, warning it was continuing to spread.

In a statement Thursday, the WHO said that along with Congolese health officials, “a further investigation is underway to determine the cause of another group of diseases and community deaths in the same province”, the third time this year the disease surveillance team has identified an increase in diseases and deaths in the region this year.

“The recent cluster occurred in the Barcelona Kusu Health District, with 141 people falling ill last week and no deaths,” the UN Global Health Agency said. “In the same health district, 158 and 58 deaths were reported in the same health district earlier in February. In January, Bolamba Health Torge reported 12 people were sick, including eight deaths.”

WHO Africa Office Say earlier this week The first outbreak was in several children who died within 48 hours after experiencing symptoms of hemorrhagic fever, similar to those caused by Ebola or Marburg virus.

Death occurs in a village, Boloko and people of all ages, but teenagers and young people seem to be most vulnerable.

Focus on the frontline impact of Trump’s aid cuts

When many unexplained cases of disease emerged, health officials and the international team of “Virus Hunters” investigated immediately, identifying who was the first case – “zero patients” – and working to identify, contain and treat the disease.

But these teams have been recently US foreign aid cutsA health official working in the area told CBS News on Thursday.

At the first cabinet meeting of Trump’s second administration on Wednesday, non-advisory member Elon Musk said His efficiency-oriented road department Ebola plan was cancelled incorrectly They target U.S. Agency for International Development.

“We all make mistakes, but when we make mistakes, we will solve it quickly, and for the USAID, we accidentally cancelled Ebola, prevented Ebola. I think we all want to prevent Ebola, so we recovered it, without interruption.”

But a U.S. health official who spoke with CBS News has a controversy over the recovery of aid. They say locally trained health workers in some infectious disease hot zones in Africa have not been paid yet, some are attributed entirely to USDA cuts.

The United States has long been the largest international donor to the Congolese health sector, and the funding has helped train epidemiologists on the field work to identify and control disease outbreaks. It is unclear how President Trump’s funding cuts will affect teams on the ground, but health officials are generally concerned that a virus hunter told CBS News that the region is facing a “perfect storm” to achieve potential spread of infectious diseases, including possible new diseases.

The contest to identify mysterious diseases

In northern Congo, health officials have been looking for anyone with a common disease or suitable for “broad case definition”

By February 19, the WHO said 943 people had been identified with the symptoms, including 52 deaths.

Test results released on February 13 show that the first case was not Ebola virus or Marburg, but half of the samples did test positive for malaria. Health officials said earlier samples of suspicious cases were “not feasible” and that retesting delayed the diagnostic process. Who is conducting further testing and also examined meningitis, testing the possibility of food, water and other environmental samples from affected areas.

Officials say they are looking for abnormal patterns in the case of mysterious diseases by increasing disease surveillance and treatment of other diseases such as malaria, meningitis and typhoid fever.

A regional health team arrived at the Barsacsu Health District about 110 miles from Bolamba Zone on February 16, six days later, a national rapid response team from the Ministry of Health and two epidemiologists joined six days later. They have been collecting blood and urine samples and taking oral and nasal swabs for testing to identify the disease.

“These diseases are boundless.”

The limited national health systems in affected areas and the Congo and the remoteness of poor roads and telephone infrastructure have contributed to the challenges of diagnosis and disease-inclusion.

According to the United Nations Captured large tracts of territory In wealthy areas, pushing refugees into camps increases the burden on already struggling health departments.

Sarah Olsen, director of health research at the Wildlife Conservation Association, told CBS News Thursday that outbreaks of Ebola, Marburg and other diseases, such as the killing of a people in northern northern Congo, have become the new norm and have added a call to global communities.

“The reality is that there have been several Ebola outbreaks across Africa in recent months, and now this mysterious disease in Congo is super dangerous. We just don’t know enough,” she said, adding: “These diseases don’t know the boundaries. Now it’s time to be vigilant.”