Why flu-like Disease X in Congo outbreak is causing concern

Dozens of people have died and hundreds have been struck by a flu-like illness dubbed Disease X that was first detected in a remote region of the Democratic Republic of Congo in late October.

International health organizations and the Congolese authorities have dispatched teams to investigate, but they have yet to establish the cause.

Those infected have suffered fever, headache, cough, runny nose and body aches.

The high fatality rate and number of cases detected over a relatively short period have sparked concern about the emergence of a new pathogen with the potential to spread widely.

This comes just a few years after Covid-19 forced countries to shut borders and brought economies and societies to a near standstill.

WHY DID IT TAKE SO LONG TO RAISE THE ALARM?

Roughly the size of Western Europe, Congo is one of the world's least developed countries and has a rudimentary health system with little diagnostic capacity to serve its population of more than 100 million people.

Disease X cases have centered on the Panzi health zone in south-western Kwango province, about 700km from the capital Kinshasa.