"The mystery has finally been solved," Congo's health ministry says, after an unidentified disease outbreak started killing mainly women and children in a remote region.

A mystery disease that has killed dozens of people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in recent weeks has been identified as severe malaria, local health officials have reportedly said. Officials in the Central African country reported earlier this month that hundreds of people - mostly children under five years old - had gotten sick with an unknown flu-like illness in the southwestern Kwango province,

Earlier this month, local authorities said the disease had killed 143 people in the southwestern Kwango province in November.

Democratic Republic of Congo's health ministry said on Tuesday that a previously unidentified disease circulating in the southwestern Kwango province is a severe form of malaria.

Authorities say the mystery flu-like illness that has killed dozens of people in southwest Congo in recent weeks might be malaria.

A mystery illness found in a remote part of Congo has been officially identified as a severe form of malaria, which has sickened nearly 600 people and killed 143.

The source of a mystery disease outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has officially been identified as malaria, the country’s health ministry said on Tuesday.