Congo’s health ministry told Reuters this week that malaria was the culprit: “The mystery has finally been solved. It’s a case of severe malaria in the form of a respiratory illness,” it said Tuesday in a statement, according to Reuters. The ministry did not respond to multiple inquiries from NBC News.

A previously unknown disease that has claimed the lives of dozens in the Democratic Republic of Congo is likely to be malaria, the African Union's health watchdog said Thursday.

Identifying the germ that has so far caused 32 deaths in health facilities and 44 other deaths in the community in Panzi, a rural district in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo could take longer,