The World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Wednesday that 100 people have died of suspected pneumonic plague in eastern Congo.
Preliminary results from diagnostic tests have confirmed pneumonic plague, WHO said in a statement.
Suspected cases of bubonic plague have also been reported, but the total number is not yet known, WHO said.
A team from WHO, Congo’s Ministry of Health and the humanitarian group Médécins Sans Frontières, has been in the area to assess the situation and help local health authorities.
Isolation wards have been established to treat patients and close contacts are being traced, but control measures have been difficult to implement because of security concerns, WHO said.
Plague is spread mainly by fleas, and causes an infection in the lungs that slowly suffocates its victims. If caught in time, it can be treated with antibiotics.
Bubonic plague is the most common strain, transmitted to humans who touch infected animals or inhale the bacteria in the air.
Pneumonic plague is rarer, but also more easily transmitted from person to person through coughing or touch.
Congo’s Ituri province is the most active focus of human plague in the world and reports about 1 000 cases a year. — Sapa-AP