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.

"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.

A previously unknown disease, dubbed Disease X in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), is a severe form of malaria, the country’s health ministry has announced. Health authorities said the disease,

Earlier this month, local authorities said the disease had killed 143 people in the southwestern Kwango province in November.