Health officials in the Democratic Republic of Congo have confirmed that a mysterious illness responsible for over 50 deaths earlier this year was malaria.
The National Public Health Institute announced late Monday that laboratory tests identified malaria as the cause of the outbreak, which killed 52 people and affected nearly 1,000 others in Equateur province.
Patients exhibited symptoms such as fever, fatigue, vomiting, and weight loss. Initially, health authorities suspected either malaria or food poisoning. While lab results confirmed malaria, officials are still awaiting analyses of food, water, and drink samples to rule out other contributing factors.
This outbreak follows a similar incident in December, when an unidentified illness was later confirmed to be malaria.
