Africa's Unknown Disease Outbreak Remains Undetermined

The World Health Organization (WHO) recently published a Situation at a Glance confirming the Democratic Republic of the Congo has reported a cluster of 24 unexplained community deaths in a single village in Ekoto health area, Basankusu health zone, Equateur province.

As of February 25, 2025, a total of 53 deaths have been reported out of 1,318 patients meeting the working suspected case definition.

The WHO's DON557 disclosed on March 3, 2025, that the progression of the unknown disease appeared to be fast, with a median time from the onset of symptoms to death of one day.

The definitive cause of illness remains undetermined, with initial samples testing negative for Ebola and Marburg viruses.

The working hypotheses include chemical poisoning or a cluster of rapid-onset bacterial meningitis, which occur against a background of malaria and other infectious illnesses endemic in the region.

Approximately 50% of malaria tests performed on these cases tested positive for malaria, which is a common mosquito-transmitted disease throughout Africa.

Two malaria vaccines are available in Africa but not in the United States.

As of 2025, the WHO and the European Medicines Agency recommend Mosquirix™ and R21 / Matrix-M™ vaccines for travelers visiting malaria-endemic countries. 

With the available information, the WHO has assessed the local public health risk as moderate and the national and global public health risk as low.

The WHO and the U.S. CDC have not issued any travel alerts regarding this event. However, the CDC has included the DRC in numerous travel advisories over the past two years.