New epidemic is spreading, more than 500 cases, mainly minors

An unknown disease is causing panic in the country of Congo. The disease has severely affected people, especially children, causing local communities to worry about the spread and severity of the disease.

Since October this year, hundreds of people have been sick with symptoms such as high fever, headache, cough, runny nose and fatigue, mainly children under 14 years old, especially those under 5 years old in the country of Congo.

According to doctors, the disease starts with flu-like symptoms but progresses rapidly and severely. The local health department said that as of mid-December, there were more than 500 cases and more than 30 people hospitalized with this mysterious disease.

While health authorities are working to determine the cause, the World Health Organization (WHO) has sent teams of experts to the area to assist in the investigation. Initial test results show that the majority of samples are positive for malaria, but the WHO has also warned that a combination of other factors cannot be ruled out.

In addition to concerns about the spread of the disease, health experts warn that malnutrition among children and low vaccination rates could leave more people vulnerable to the disease. Doctors and volunteer groups are working under inadequate conditions, from a lack of medical equipment to difficulties in transporting test samples due to poor transportation, especially during the rainy season. Hospitals, such as Panzi General Hospital, lack everything from medicines and resuscitation equipment to infrastructure such as electricity and internet.

In that context, people are also concerned that the disease could spread, especially when the end of the year is the time when many people travel. Some local residents have called on the government to increase preventive measures. At the same time, some experts believe that the disease may have originated from wild animals, prompting people to be advised to limit contact with them. The reason is that the disease has just appeared when doctors in Congo are still dealing with a monkeypox epidemic with 40,000 cases and 1,000 deaths.

Meanwhile, another high-profile incident occurred in Australia when more than 300 test tubes containing dangerous viruses were lost after a freezer malfunction in 2021. However, the virus was lost two years ago and was only discovered in 2023. Although the incident attracted widespread attention, health experts asserted that the risk from this loss is very low.

According to Associate Professor Dr. Do Van Dung, Head of the Faculty of Public Health, University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Ho Chi Minh City, people do not need to worry about this incident. The virus in the test tubes is no longer dangerous because it has been preserved for a long time in the freezer and cannot spread outside the laboratory environment.

Furthermore, these test-tube viruses already exist naturally in wild animals in Australia, and the country's health sector has not recorded any cases of infection from this incident.

Although it can cause disease in humans if exposed directly, the virus in test tubes cannot spread or cause epidemics on its own, because it needs a special environment to survive. Experts also confirm that this virus does not easily adapt to conditions outside the laboratory and the possibility of spreading is very low.

The outbreak in the Congo, while severe and affecting poor communities, is likely to be contained if preventive measures and epidemiological surveillance are taken seriously. As for the virus test tube incident in Australia, the risk of the disease spreading is virtually non-existent.

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