Undiagnosed Hemorrhagic Fever - Congo

Undiagnosed Hemorrhagic Fever – Congo

January 10, 2021
< 1 min read

A case of hemorrhagic fever of unknown etiology has been reported in Ingende, a remote town in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

There are worries that the female patient may be showing symptoms of an Ebola-like illness that is not Ebola. It may be a new virus. It may also be one of the many diseases that afflict people here that are already known to science, but none of the tests done here have explained her high fever and diarrhea.

This is a case of a population living close to the wilderness and emphasizes the point of having better diagnostic tests available in remote locations when needed.

Once a new virus begins circulating among humans, the consequences of a brief encounter at the edge of a forest or at a wet market could be devastating. COVID-19 has shown that. Ebola has proven it. In most scientific publications, there is an assumption that there will be more contagious diseases coming as humans continue to encroach wilderness habitats.

Photo: Artist rendering of a pathogen.

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