Previously visited Congo

Italian dies of severe malaria

(Bild: Massimo Todaro)

The mystery surrounding the mysterious "disease X" in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been solved. However, the infection, which has now been identified as a severe form of malaria, has not lost much of its horror. While at least 143 people have already died in the Congo as a result of the disease, the first death has now also been reported in Italy.

A 55-year-old man from the northern Italian province of Treviso had been in the capital Kinshasa and along the Congo River and had recently returned to his home country. There he was admitted to hospital after his condition deteriorated. He eventually died after suffering from a severe fever with bleeding, according to Italian media reports.

The Spallanzani Hospital in Rome is now carrying out investigations.(Bild: APA/AFP/Andreas SOLARO)

Contact person in home isolation
The Spallanzani Hospital in Rome, which specializes in infectious diseases, is now carrying out investigations to determine the origin of the disease. Domestic isolation has been ordered for the only person who came into contact with the deceased.

Another Italian, who had returned from Africa with flu-like symptoms and had been admitted to a hospital in the Tuscan city of Lucca in recent days, was able to leave the hospital again. 

Congo: "Mystery is finally solved"
Recently, more and more cases of a mysterious illness had become known in a remote region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. On Tuesday, it finally became known that, according to the Congolese authorities, it is likely to be a severe form of malaria in the form of a respiratory disease. "The mystery" has "finally been solved", announced the Ministry of Health in the capital Kinshasa.