--- title: What We Know So Far About the Mystery Illnesses Killing Dozens in Congo | TIME description: Unidentified illnesses in northwestern Congo have killed more than 50 people over the past five weeks, nearly half of them within hours after they felt sick. The outbreaks in two distant villages in Congo’s Equateur province began on Jan. 21 and include 419 cases and 53 deaths. Health officials still do not know the cause, or whether the cases in the two villages, which are separated by more than 120 miles (190 kilometers), are related. It’s also unclear how the diseases are spreading, including whether they are spreading between people. canonical: https://time.com/video/PnXIib0r/ og:title: What We Know So Far About the Mystery Illnesses Killing Dozens in Congo og:description: Unidentified illnesses in northwestern Congo have killed more than 50 people over the past five weeks, nearly half of them within hours after they felt sick. The outbreaks in two distant villages in Congo’s Equateur province began on Jan. 21 and include 419 cases and 53 deaths. Health officials still do not know the cause, or whether the cases in the two villages, which are separated by more than 120 miles (190 kilometers), are related. It’s also unclear how the diseases are spreading, including whether they are spreading between people. og:url: https://time.com/video/PnXIib0r/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/PnXIib0r/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: What We Know So Far About the Mystery Illnesses Killing Dozens in Congo twitter:description: Unidentified illnesses in northwestern Congo have killed more than 50 people over the past five weeks, nearly half of them within hours after they felt sick. The outbreaks in two distant villages in Congo’s Equateur province began on Jan. 21 and include 419 cases and 53 deaths. Health officials still do not know the cause, or whether the cases in the two villages, which are separated by more than 120 miles (190 kilometers), are related. It’s also unclear how the diseases are spreading, including whether they are spreading between people. twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/PnXIib0r/poster.jpg?width=720 --- * World # What We Know So Far About the Mystery Illnesses Killing Dozens in Congo > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Subscription: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition TIME is a general-interest news organization founded in 1923, reporting on the people, ideas and issues shaping the world. A TIME subscription provides full access to that journalism in print and digital, from $20 a year, and can be cancelled at any time. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: What We Know So Far About the Mystery Illnesses Killing Dozens in Congo [Watch (HLS stream): What We Know So Far About the Mystery Illnesses Killing Dozens in Congo](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/PnXIib0r.m3u8) (0:52)  _Published 2025-02-27. Unidentified illnesses in northwestern Congo have killed more than 50 people over the past five weeks, nearly half of them within hours after they felt sick. The outbreaks in two distant villages in Congo’s Equateur province began on Jan. 21 and include 419 cases and 53 deaths. Health officials still do not know the cause, or whether the cases in the two villages, which are separated by more than 120 miles (190 kilometers), are related. It’s also unclear how the diseases are spreading, including whether they are spreading between people._ --- Feb 27, 2025 10:20 PM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [WHO Responding to a New Ebola Outbreak in Congo That Has Killed Dozens ](/video/vkk4tkuF/) ### WHO Responding to a New Ebola Outbreak in Congo That Has Killed Dozens [Congo's Ebola Outbreak Has Spread to a City, Bringing Confirmed Cases to Three](/video/K4wkPvmd/) ### Congo's Ebola Outbreak Has Spread to a City, Bringing Confirmed Cases to Three [Rape in Congo](/video/uB3plSDg/) ### Rape in Congo --- ## Transcript In a northwestern Equateur province, two clusters of cases of deaths from unknown disease have have emerged, resulting in hundreds of cases and dozens of deaths. Those outbreaks, which have seen cases rise rapidly within days, poses a significant public health threat. We are again talking about remote areas in Congo with, uh, with a with a limited laboratory, uh, capacities with limited surveillance, uh, capacities, uh, with a really difficult access and difficult infrastructure. So we remember we had a similar situation, uh, a few months ago. We need really to support local health authorities to try to get the samples to the to the relevant laboratories that are closest to the affected areas. ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"What We Know So Far About the Mystery Illnesses Killing Dozens in Congo","description":"Unidentified illnesses in northwestern Congo have killed more than 50 people over the past five weeks, nearly half of them within hours after they felt sick.\nThe outbreaks in two distant villages in Congo’s Equateur province began on Jan. 21 and include 419 cases and 53 deaths. 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