The disease outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which was previously unknown, was officially identified as malaria, according to a Telegraph report citing the country's health ministry statement on Tuesday.

"The mystery has finally been solved," Congo's health ministry says, after an unidentified disease outbreak started killing mainly women and children in a remote region.

Earlier this month, local authorities said the disease had killed 143 people in the southwestern Kwango province in November.

A mystery disease that has killed dozens of people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in recent weeks has been identified as severe malaria, local health officials have reportedly said. Officials in the Central African country reported earlier this month that hundreds of people - mostly children under five years old - had gotten sick with an unknown flu-like illness in the southwestern Kwango province,

A mystery illness found in a remote part of Congo has been officially identified as a severe form of malaria, which has sickened nearly 600 people and killed 143.

A mysterious illness outbreak that has sickened at least 416 people and killed 31 in a remote region of the Democratic Republic of Congo may be at least partly caused by malaria, health officials said Tuesday.

The source of a mystery disease outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has officially been identified as malaria, the country’s health ministry said on Tuesday.