An unknown illness first discovered in three children who ate a bat has rapidly killed more than 50 people in northwestern Congo over the past five weeks, health experts say.

An unknown illness has killed more than 50 people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), according to doctors in the country and global health authorities. The interval between the onset of symptoms and death has been 48 hours in the majority of cases,

The World Health Organization (WHO) has reported more than 50 deaths from an unknown illness in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which has an extremely short window between symptoms and death