The outbreak has killed at least 50 people, Reuters has reported

A disease outbreak in northwestern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) has killed at least 50 people and affected around 1,000, Reuters reported on Thursday, citing a local official. Health officials suspect malaria or food poisoning as the cause of the illness, which has been reported in Equateur province.

Dieudonne Mwamba, the director general of the National Institute of Public Health, told the news agency that 52 deaths and 943 infections have been recorded in Equateur so far.

The World Health Organization (WHO), in a separate statement, reported 1,096 suspected cases and 60 deaths. Patients have shown symptoms including fever, vomiting, weight loss, and fatigue.

"For now, our diagnosis is malaria, and we also suspect food poisoning," Mwamba stated. He explained that affected children had consumed bushmeat, which could be linked to the outbreak.

Doctors have ruled out known viruses such as Ebola, Marburg, yellow fever, and dengue after testing more than a dozen samples. The WHO said additional tests are being conducted to determine if other diseases, including typhoid fever, meningitis, or viral hemorrhagic fevers, could be responsible.

Medical director Serge Ngalebato of Bikoro Hospital, a key monitoring center in the region, told AP that the most alarming aspect of the outbreak is the rapid progression of symptoms. The interval between the onset of symptoms and death has been 48 hours in most cases, and "that's what's really worrying," he said.

The DR Congo has been identified as the epicenter of a severe outbreak of the Mpox virus, formerly known as monkeypox, with over 2,000 new suspected cases weekly, according to the WHO.

READ MORE: Unknown disease kills dozens in conflict-torn African state

In December, the former Belgian colony's Health Ministry identified a previously unknown disease that had spread in the southwestern Kwango province as a severe form of malaria. The illness, which causes fever, headache, coughing, runny nose, and body ache, claimed 143 lives in November.