DR Congo: 10 students died of unknown disease

KINSHASA: Ten students at Maikazo Institute in Tshopo district in Kisangani, the main town in Orientale province of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), died in one week from an unknown disease, with meningitis-like symptoms, the Congolese radio reported on Tuesday.

The last case of death came on Tuesday morning at the Mangobo general hospital, where three of these students had been admitted since Saturday, when nine others died a few hours after they had been taken to the hospital, Dr. Cecile Edambulu, chief medical doctor in Tshopo zone, told the radio.

"The children had symptoms of headache, fever and convulsions. Upon arrival at the health center, they died. The symptoms that they showed made us think they were suffering from meningitis," Edambulu explained.

According to hospital sources, similar cases were identified in Makiso and Mangobo districts in the neighborhood of Tshopo. The children had been taken to Mangobo and Kisangani hospitals, they reported.

The provincial education minister, Polydore Latigo, has decided to momentarily close down Maikazo Institute.

"This is a preventive measure to allow the administrative and medical authorities to carry out investigation on the situation," he said.

The mayor of Kisangani has brought together all education and health partners in the town to find a way to curb the spread of the disease while awaiting the results of test on the samples taken to the capital Kinshasa and South Africa to determine the type of the virus.