WeeklySA_AdminMONITORING: An unidentified illness has been reported in Kwango Province, in the southwest of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
By Gabrielle Emanuel
They’re calling it Disease X. It’s a mysterious illness circulating in a remote part of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Current figures: almost 400 cases and 79 deaths. International health authorities are monitoring.
It all started on October 24 when the first patient fell ill with an unidentified sickness. Others soon followed, all in Kwango Province, which is more than 400 miles from the capital Kinshasa. But it wasn’t until more than five weeks later that the national government was notified.
“At the Emergency Operation Centre for Public Health and at the INSP [National Institute of Public Health] — which is in maximum alert mode — we’ve already positioned central-level teams who will leave within 24 hours to join the [local] health zone,” says Dr. Dieudonné Mwamba, the director general of INSP, who spoke in French at a press briefing yesterday.
“The most frequent symptoms that were noted: fever, headache, cough and sometimes difficulties to breathe,” he said. More than half the cases are in children under 5.
Uncertain
No one knows yet how worried to be about Disease X — as it’s been called by Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention. In fact, “situations like this occur probably several times a year around the world,” says Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, who has been tracking the DRC outbreak.
Most times, an unidentified disease is in fact identified as something that’s known and brought under control locally. However, in all such instances the concern is that the disease will take off and spread around the world, as COVID-19 did. In the DRC, he says, the mortality rate is striking but “it hasn’t appeared to grow exponentially.”
As Congolese officials as well as international teams from Africa CDC and the World Health Organization descend on the rural area to investigate, samples from the patients have already been sent to a lab in the provincial capital more than 300 miles away. They are being run through a battery of tests to see if the disease can be identified. Results are expected in 24 to 48 hours.
A respiratory pathogen such as influenza or COVID-19 is being investigated as a possible cause as well as malaria, measles and others.
Preliminarily, it appears the disease may be airborne, experts said at the Thursday press briefing. However, that has not yet been confirmed and there are tons of unanswered questions.
“Is it an infectious disease? Is it a non-infectious disease? If we talk about infection diseases, is this a viral infection? Is it a bacterial infection? Is it a fungal infection? Is it a parasitic infection? There are so many things we don’t know,” says Dr. Jean Kaseya, director general of Africa CDC. “We want to know very quickly, what is this disease? The world is wondering.”
Mwamba said the part of the country impacted by the disease has a lot of malnutrition — around 40% — and that can make people particularly “vulnerable” to diseases. The area was also hit by an outbreak of typhoid fever two years ago. The DRC is urging people to remain calm and vigilant. It’s also asking those in the area not to attend mass gatherings or handle a person’s remains.
Why the delay in alerting the government?
Kaseya expressed frustration at how long it took for the national authorities to get alerted. “How can we accept having five, six weeks of delay?” he says, arguing that this is a case for strengthening disease surveillance systems and boosting local health systems.
However, Osterholm is not surprised by how long it took, saying it often takes time for local health workers to piece together what is happening. “It’s very possible that these cases were scattered throughout a region where it wouldn’t be immediately apparent [they were related],” he says.
Still, he says, time is critical. “We need to make sure that we have the resources to intervene quickly” both for the local population’s wellbeing and to ensure the disease doesn’t cross international borders.
In a statement, the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said: “US Government staff, including those from US CDC’s country office in Kinshasa, are in contact with DRC’s Ministry of Health and stand ready to provide additional support if needed.”
Osterholm says the international authorities and DRC health authorities are “all over this right now — and that’s a very good sign.”
An unidentified illness has been reported in Kwango Province, in the southwest of the Democratic Republic of Congo. – NPR
Mirror Briefs
HANI’S KILLER FREED
The government has announced that it will be deporting Januz Walus, who was convicted of killing South African Communist Party (SACP) leader Chris Hani.
Hani, who was the leader of the African National Congress’ military wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe, and the general secretary of the South African Communist Party, was shot outside his home in Boksburg, east of Johannesburg, in 1993.
Walus, 71, spent over 28 years in jail after he was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder. He was released on parole following a ruling of the Constitutional Court in 2022.
Clive Derby-Lewis, a former politician who was sentenced together with Walus for the murder, was released on medical parole in 2015 and died from cancer in 2016.
The two were initially sentenced to death but their sentences became life sentences when South Africa became a democracy and abolished the death penalty.
Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said Walus would be deported to Poland and that the Polish government would bear all costs of the deportation process. The decision to release Walus on parole was taken by the highest court in the country and the government had always opposed his release.
The announcement of his deportation was met with criticism by the SACP which believes that Walus had never shown remorse for Hani’s death, including who ordered it. The ANC has called for a full inquest into Hani’s death. – Lehlohonolo Lehana.
AIR STRIKE SUSPENDED
The SAA Pilots Association (SAAPA) and National Transport Movement (NTM) have called off the strike after reaching a conditional agreement with South African Airways (SAA).
SAA said yesterday that the strike was suspended in the early hours of the morning (Sat) after successful negotiations between the airline and the unions.
SAAPA and NTM had previously demanded a 15.7% increase. SAA offered an 8.46% increase, backdated to April, which was rejected. Pilots went on strike on Thursday, picketing outside the airline’s office in Kempton Park at OR Tambo International Airport. There were disruptions across local, regional and international routes.
SAA management offered an additional 1% salary increase, resulting in a total salary increase of 9.47% for SAA pilots.
Pilots will return to work while negotiations for “improved working conditions” continue between the unions and SAA.
“As part of the agreement that broke the deadlock in wage negotiations, engagements on a continuous enterprise improvement program will continue over the next eight weeks,” interim SAA CEO John Lamola said in a statement.
The airline is expected to return to a full flight schedule on Sunday, with over 100 pilots expected to return to duty by noon yesterday (Sat). – Fullview
NPA PAID BACK R1,1B
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has secured a resolution with infamous multinational company, McKinsey South Africa, to pay back some R1.1 billion to state coffers for its role in State Capture.
NPA Asset Forfeiture Unit Head, Deputy National Director of Public Prosecutions, Ouma Rabaji-Rasethaba, has called the resolution a “significant step that takes South Africa forward in fighting crime”.
“The NPA remains committed not only to prosecuting criminals but also to contributing to the economic recovery of the country through restitution. Corporate alternative dispute resolutions address both of these mandates of the NPA in a cost-effective impactful way.
“Such resolutions are a globally recognised and proven crime fighting method. This strategy is to be embraced as South Africa recovers from the effects of state capture,” Rabaji-Rasethaba said.
“The Resolution is the product of international co-operation between the NPA and the United States Department of Justice [US DOJ] and was co-ordinated with US criminal justice processes that resulted in a settlement agreement confirmed today by a US Federal Court.
“In terms of the Resolution, McKinsey admits, accepts and acknowledges responsibility under South African law for the criminal actions and conduct of Vikas Sagar, who was a former partner of McKinsey, during the relevant period. As a result of Sagar’s corrupt actions, McKinsey was awarded contracts with Transnet and Eskom amounting to nearly R2 billion.- SA News
TOP MK OFFICIAL DIES.
Umkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party KwaZulu-Natal communications head and former Sowetan journalist, Canaan Mdletshe, has died in a car crash.
The party confirmed Mdletshe was involved in a car accident in the northern parts of the province on Thursday night. He was traveling from the by-elections in Mtubatuba.
He was a member of the KZN Provincial Detachment under the leadership of former KZN premier Willies Mchunu. He joined the MK Party in August 2024 after leaving the National Freedom Party (NFP) following its decision to govern with the African National Congress and the Democratic Alliance.
MK party spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndhlela said Mdletshe played a pivotal role in the NFP as its Secretary General before joining the MK party.
“He gallantly picked up the spear of uMkhonto weSizwe party and continued the revolution of emancipating our people against imperialism and neo-colonialism.
Whilst we cannot fathom the extent of the excruciating anguish of grief from this tragedy, the leadership of uMkhonto weSizwe party wishes to convey its deepest and most heartfelt condolences to the family of Commander Mdletshe. – Fullview
