Health authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) are carrying out further investigations to determine the cause of another cluster of illness and deaths in Équateur province, UN officials reported on Thursday.
In recent months, disease surveillance has identified increases in cases and fatalities on three occasions across different areas of the country, which triggered follow-up investigations to confirm the cause and provide needed support, WHO said in a statement.
Symptoms include fever, headache, chills, sweating, stiff neck, muscle aches, multiple joint pain and body aches, a runny or bleeding from the nose, cough, vomiting and diarrhoea.
DRC currently faces multiple challenges, with a conflict raging in the east, as Congolese armed forces face off against the Rwanda-backed M23 – with the fighting involving multiple other armed groups.
A series of outbreaks and fatalities have been occurring in Équateur province since the beginning of 2025, the UN health agency said.
The most recent cluster occurred in the Basankusu health zone, where last week 141 additional people fell ill, with no deaths reported so far. Some 158 cases and 58 deaths were reported in the same zone earlier in February.
In January, Bolamba health zone reported 12 cases including eight deaths.
