An unusual number of suspected cases of plague with significant fatality in DRC

Originally published by Robert Herriman in Outbreak News Today. 

Plague is endemic in Ituri province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) where cases are regularly reported in some health zones including Aungba, Linga, Logo, Mahagi and Rethy.

However, since the beginning of this year, health zones of Logo and Rethy have reported an unusual number of suspected cases of plague with significant fatality. 

As of 20 February 2024, 99 cases and seven deaths ( CFR 7.1%) have been reported from the two health zones, including 84 cases of bubonic plague, 11 cases of pneumonic plague and four of septicemic plague.

Of the 21,725 cases of human plague reported globally during the first decade of the 21st century, 97 percent of the cases were reported from the African continent, according to a published report in The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. 1,612 deaths were also reported during the period of 2000-2009.

Leading all countries with number of human plague cases was the DRC, which reported 10,581 during the decade.

The next decade of this century saw a reduction in human plague cases compared to the previous decade. From 2010 through 2019, the six leading countries by numbers of human plague cases reported to the WHO were, in order from highest to lowest, Madagascar, DR Congo, Uganda, Peru, Tanzania, and the United States. From these countries, there was a total of 4,547 cases, of whom 786 (17%) died.