"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.

Congo's health minister Roger Kamba attends a press conference in Kinshasa, Congo, in a Dec. 5, 2024 file photo. / Credit: Samy Ntumba Shambuyi/AP At least 592 cases were reported after the alert was first raised by Congo's health ministry on Oct. 29.

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. Earlier this month, local authorities said the disease had killed 143 people in the country's Panzi health zone in November.