A biologist described the symptoms of the virus in Congo

An unknown virus, which killed more than 140 residents of one of the districts of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), causes headaches and hemorrhages in patients. Ancha Baranova, Ph.D., a professor at George Mason University's School of Systems Biology in the United States, said on December 6.

"All had flu-like symptoms, hemorrhages in the eyeballs and severe headaches. The death toll is very high," Baranova told Lenta.Ru.

The biologist noted that it is still unclear whether this disease is new or a variant of some old infection has appeared in the DRC.

Earlier, on December 4, Rospotrebnadzor took control of the situation with a new virus in the African republic. To identify risks and take additional measures, the agency has created a laboratory base. In addition, there is a staff of specialists trained for such work, there are reference centers of leading scientific organizations and border infection control system "Perimeter".

Reuters reported on December 3 that 143 people died of an unknown disease in the southwestern province of the DRC. A medical team was sent to the infected area to analyze and try to identify the disease. It was noted that the number of people who had fallen ill was on the rise.