Author: Andrew Lee, Professor of Public Health, University of Sheffield

A “mystery disease” recently struck the south-western corner of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), killing between 67 and 143 people over two weeks. The disease was reported to cause flu-like symptoms of fever, headache, cough and anaemia. An epidemiologist told Reuters that it was mainly women and children who were seriously affected by the disease. But little else is known about the disease so far. Health officials in the DRC are urgently investigating this incident to identify the cause of this deadly outbreak. Initially, they would consider possible diseases known to be endemic to the region such as malaria,…