The outbreak of a currently unknown disease in northwest Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has seen hundreds of people sickened and more than 50 killed since mid-January, health officials have reported.

MONUSCO, the U.N. peacekeeping force in the DRC, said the reported killings were under investigation but remained unverified.

An unknown disease that poses a ‘significant public health threat’ has already killed more than 50 people. The disease started on January 21 in Boloko, in the Democratic Republic of Congo ( DRC ), after three children ate a dead bat, according to the World Health Organisation (WHOs) Africa office.