Congo man dies with hemorrhagic fever, indicating mystery outbreak could be more than just malaria

DAKAR, Senegal — A man in western Congo died Thursday with hemorrhagic fever symptoms, leading officials to suspect that a still-unidentified virus may be involved alongside malaria in a mysterious outbreak that has killed dozens of people, health authorities said. Congo authorities said last week that they suspected malaria in the flu-like disease outbreak, which has killed at least 37 people and in which more than four out of five patients have tested positive for malaria. The head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said last week that most of the blood samples collected in the Panzi area were positive for malaria but that it was possible that more than one disease was involved. Because of the lack of local testing capacity, samples had to be taken to Kikwit, more than 310 miles away, the head of the National Institute for Public Health, Dieudonne Mwamba, said last week.