UN World Health Organisation (WHO) and health authorities in Burundi are racing to identify a mysterious illness that has claimed five lives in the country’s north.

The outbreak, centred in the Mpanda district near the border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo, has so far sickened 28 people.

The cases, first reported on March 30, have primarily affected members of the same household.

WHO, in a statement on Thursday, said the patients had presented severe symptoms including fever, vomiting, diarrhoea, and blood in their urine, with some cases exhibiting jaundice and anaemia.

While initial tests for Ebola and Marburg virus diseases returned negative results, further laboratory analyses are ongoing.

The WHO is currently supporting the Ministry of Health to “strengthen disease surveillance, field investigation, clinical care, and laboratory diagnosis”.

A joint team of experts has been deployed to the field to coordinate the response and “sustain key operations” aimed at containing the spread. (NAN)