that has surpassed 1,000 cases and killed at least 60 people.

The World Health Organization said that while malaria - a mosquito-borne disease - is prevalent in Congo’s Equateur province, it has not yet ruled out other causes. It is unclear if the outbreaks are related, the UN health agency said in an update Thursday.

“Detailed epidemiological and clinical investigations, as well as further laboratory testing, are (still) needed,” WHO’s Africa office said. It said nearly 1,100 cases have been reported since the first outbreaks were discovered in two villages more than 100 miles apart in late January. Africa’s top public health agency said infections have been detected in five villages and that the agency is investigating whether water or food could be the cause of the infections, along with flu and typhoid. However, tests are “pointing toward malaria”, Dr Ngashi Ngongo of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in an online briefing Thursday. The first outbreak was detected in the village of Boloko after three children ate a bat and died within 48 hours. WHO has recorded 12 cases and eight deaths in Boloko. Nearly half of the people who died did so within hours of the onset of symptoms, health officials said this week.