Since the beginning of the year, at least 943 people in the region fell ill, with symptoms such as fever, fatigue, vomiting, and weight loss. Of these cases, 52 people lost their lives. Initially, health officials suspected malaria or food poisoning as possible causes of the outbreak.

Christian Ngandu, Co-ordinator of the National Public Health institute, stated that while malaria has been identified as the cause, further investigations are ongoing. Samples of water, drinks, and food have been sent abroad for testing to determine whether contamination played a role in the outbreak.

This marks the second recent instance where an illness of unknown origin in the country was later identified as malaria. A separate outbreak in December, initially unexplained, was ultimately linked to the disease.

--ChannelAfrica--