Over the past week, 147 more cases were reported in an unexplained outbreak in a remote region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), according to the latest data today from the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).

At a weekly briefing, Africa CDC Director Jean Kaseya, MD, MPH, said cases are up from 111 reported during the previous week. "This means we have a major public health issue in the DRC," he said. Nearly 42% of the cases have been reported in children younger than 5 years old.

One more death was reported in the previous week, which involved a child younger than 5 years. So far, 32 deaths have been documented at healthcare facilities, and investigations are under way to determine if 44 deaths reported at the community level are related to the outbreak.

Though malaria was reported in some of the initial samples, the lab investigation into the cause or causes of the outbreak is far from complete, facing difficult obstacles in getting samples to the National Institute for Biomedical Research (INRB) in Kinshasa for testing.

An official from the lab told Africa CDC that samples it received on December 7 are poor quality, with blood and serum samples poorly preserved and some showing hemolysis. The lab didn't receive any nasopharyngeal samples.

Kaseya said a team went back to Panzi health zone to collect more samples, which took 3 days due the remote location and difficult road conditions.

Dieudonne Mwamba, MD, PhD, director-general of the National Institute of Public Health within the DRC's health ministry, said the team collected 78 more samples, which includes several types. They are on their way to the lab in Kinshasa. He said officials anticipate more definitive results sometime over the next week.