Virulent flu kills 566 in Equateur Province

A virulent flu epidemic in the Nord Ubangui zone of Equateur Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), has claimed 566 lives so far, the government announced on Tuesday. Health Minister Mashako Mamba, who is also the national epidemic alert system coordinator, said the first death from the virus was recorded in early October in the town of Bosobolo, some 500 km north of Mbandaka, and 150 km east of Bangui, capital of the neighbouring Central African Republic (CAR). "We're dealing with a flu-like syndrome that manifests itself in fever, coughing, headaches, and chills, but what poses the greatest danger is lung infection complications and severe dehydration," Makuma, an epidemiologist, said. Epidemiologists say that the flu is linked to the mass exodus from Bangui during the military intervention of Jean-Pierre Bemba's DRC rebel Mouvement de liberation du Congo, which came to the aid of the CAR army during a coup attempt launched on 25 October. "If the flu had been stopped in Bosobolo, we would have thought it was a local epidemic, but as it has spread to Gbadolite, Gemena and other locations to where Congolese and MLC fighters fled, it can only be a matter of an imported epidemic," Mashako said. The exact number of people infected is unknown, owing to the difficulties experienced by humanitarian health organisations, which are not widely present in the region following years of instability. "People are dying because appropriate care is not available, and the health system is inadequate," Mondongo said. "We do not know the number of people who have been infected, but we estimate it to be about double the number of people who have died." Epidemiologists believe the virus came from the CAR, which had been previously affected, following a similar outbreak in West Africa.