An unknown disease has killed 143 people in the Congo in an outbreak that has alarmed the World Health Organization.

Patients suffered from flu-like symptoms, including a high fever and severe headache with women and children reported to be most seriously affected, local officials say,

Deaths are being recorded in Kwango province, in the Southwest of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and on its border with Angola.

Remy Saki, deputy governor of the province, and Apollinaire Yumba, its minister of health said health officials are collecting samples and carrying out an analysis in order to identify the disease behind the outbreak.

Officials say the situation is 'extremely worrying' and that the death toll is rising rapidly. On November 25, they had reported 67 de@ths from the disease.

Patients suffering from the illness are reportedly dying in their own homes and struggling to receive treatment. The DRC is also currently facing a monkeypox outbreak.

Health officials are yet to report any results from the tests, and it is not clear whether patients have tested negative for other common diseases.

It is not clear what disease could be causing the deaths, but the DRC has now battled more than 12 outbreaks of Ebola.

The virus, which can be caught from fruit bats, causes a flu-like illness before patients suffer from nausea, bleeding, and brain problems. In one outbreak declared in 2019, more than 3,250 cases and 2,100 deaths were reported