At least five people have died in Burundi, and another three dozen become ill from unexplained causes, reports CIDRAP News.
The case-fatality rate of 14% has alarmed officials, who say symptoms have included fever, vomiting, diarrhoea, headache and dark urine, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).
In severe cases, people may display neurologic symptoms, anaemia, jaundice and difficulty in breathing.
Testing showed that samples from patients tested negative for more than 200 pathogens, said Yap Boum, PhD, MPH, deputy head of the Africa CDC Mpox Response. This includes Ebola and Marburg virus diseases, Rift Valley fever, yellow fever and Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever.
Potential zoonotic transmission
Boum said public health workers are also doing animal testing, including on pigs and cattle, to determine if a pathogen has potentially jumped from an animal to a human.
“All necessary measures are being taken to safeguard public health and prevent potential spread of infection,” said Dr Lydwine Badarahana, Burundi’s Minister of Health, in a statement posted by the WHO.
The WHO said it was supporting Burundi’s Health Ministry to strengthen disease surveillance, field investigation, clinical care, lab diagnosis, and infection prevention and control. It has also facilitated the shipment of samples for further analysis to the National Institute of Biomedical Research in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo.
CIDRAP News article – At least 5 dead in Burundi from a mystery illness: Africa CDC (Open access)
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