Updates on disease X outbreak in DRC "The unknown illness, has claimed 79 lives and infected 376 people in the Panzi district, appears airborne per health director, a rural area with high vulnerability due to 40% malnutrition and a recent typhoid outbreak. healthpolicy-watch.news/drc-expects-... - ThreadSky

boghuma.bsky.social • 83 days ago

Updates on disease X outbreak in DRC
"The unknown illness, has claimed 79 lives and infected 376 people in the Panzi district, appears airborne per health director, a rural area with high vulnerability due to 40% malnutrition and a recent typhoid outbreak.
https://healthpolicy-watch.news/drc-expects-diagnosis-of-disease-x-by-weekend-mpox-continues-to-spread/

Comments

boghuma.bsky.social•83 days ago

Symptoms: Patients experience fever, headaches, cough, and sometimes difficulty breathing. The disease appears to be airborne.
Demographics: Women are slightly more affected than men. The most impacted age groups are children under 5 years old (52% of cases) and individuals over 25 years old (30%).

boghuma.bsky.social•83 days ago

The first case was identified on October 24, but central authorities were only informed on December 1, leading to a significant delay in response. It is unclear if the illness is viral or bacterial. Specimens have been sent to a laboratory in Kikwit, 500 km away, with results expected within 48h.

boghuma.bsky.social•83 days ago

As an infectious disease Dr. I can't stress enough that any guesses on etiology at this time will be just be speculation. There are many bacterial and viral illness that can cause the clustering of symptoms described ranging from zoonoses to well known infections.

boghuma.bsky.social•83 days ago

Hopefully we get confirmatory laboratory testing soon and epidemiology team on the ground investigating the outbreak will be focused on:
- Case definition
- Identifying cases and contacts
- Establishing mode of spread
- Implementing control measures and educating the public
This is hard work.

enirenberg.bsky.social•83 days ago

Yeah I’m staring at the described presentation and it’s so nonspecific that I feel like any hypothesizing at this point wouldn’t be responsible

marsha.bsky.social•83 days ago

😬 I wonder if women are being more effected as caregivers for sick children

boghuma.bsky.social•83 days ago

These are all questions the outbreak investigation team will be looking to answer as they interview survivors and perform verbal autopsies of the deceased.

pergamic.bsky.social•83 days ago

Thanks for update - lots of reports but good to have a expert with details

Comments

Posting Rules

Reply