Doctors have said they have treated hundreds of people

Doctors have identified a key detail of a mystery illness which leads to death within hours.

More than 50 deaths have been reported in the north-west of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

An unknown disease which causes a rapid onset of symptoms has claimed the lives, according to the World Health Organisation.

Doctors say they have treated hundreds of people, finding there is a two-day interval between the first signs of illness and death.

The WHO is now warning the infection may be the result of another virus passing from humans to animals – similar to what is believed to have sparked the Coronavirus pandemic.

The outbreak is understood to have started on January 21, with 419 cases recorded between then and mid-February.

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There have been 53 deaths, suggesting a 12.49 per cent mortality rate – above the official 3.14 per cent rate for Covid, Mirror reports.

Serge Ngalebato, medical director of Bikoro Hospital which is a regional monitoring centre, said the short amount of time between onset of symptoms and deaths was ‘worrying’.

WHO’s Africa office said the outbreak began in the town of Boloko after three children ate a bat.

They died within 48 hours after suffering symptoms of a haemorrhagic fever.

A second outbreak of the disease unfolded in the town of Bomate on February 9.

Samples from 13 cases have been sent to the National Institute for Biomedical Research in the capital Kinshasa for testing, the WHO said.

All samples have been negative for Ebola or other common haemorrhagic fever diseases, such as Marburg, while others tested positive for malaria.