A mysterious outbreak has occurred in the mountainous Wakhan region of Afghanistan in the northeast of the country, which borders Tajikistan and Pakistan. So far, the ruling class has reported that the respiratory illness has already killed 21 people.

Health chiefs have now been dispatched to the area to investigate the nature of the illness, according to a report by The Daily Mail.

The first deaths from this mystery illness occurred a fortnight ago, the Afghanistan Times claimed. It also reported that officials described the disease as being “very similar” to Covid.  Turkish state-run news outlet Anadolu Agency reports that at least 21 people have died due to the mysterious disease in the country.

According to a report by The Science Times, British health officials are also keeping an eye out for instances of Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, a viral illness spread primarily by ticks that may be deadly in up to 40% of cases. It comes after the Taliban-controlled Bakhtar News Agency claimed last week that at least 50 youngsters died from respiratory ailments in the Baghlan district of northern Afghanistan in only a month.

This comes after reports of a mysterious illness killing 2 children in Afghanistan back in December.  Taliban authorities said that clinics in certain provinces are seeing a sharp increase in the number of people suffering from this mysterious infection. It appears to be the same infection.

Mysterious Disease Kills 2 Children In Afghanistan

Doctors are blaming poor hygiene for the ongoing health crisis. Last summer, the Zabul Province was hit by an unknown disease that affected 200 people in Shahjoy after symptoms of cholera were reported in May.

Horrifying Pestilences Are Starting To Run Wild All Over The Globe

Experts continue to be baffled by the outbreak and do not yet know what virus is causing people to become unwell.

Another mysterious illness is circulating in Pakistan too. Leading pathologists in Karachi say they have seen people with dengue symptoms who tested negative for the mosquito-borne infection, according to Arab News.  A top body of doctors in the country has urged the ruling class to set up a modern virology lab to analyze mysterious viruses in Pakistan after health practitioners recently claimed a new pathogen had infected a significant number of people in Karachi.

“Although we don’t have the exact figures, but the number of patients suffering from this illness have remained high in the last couple of weeks,” said Dr. Zeeshan Hussain, a senior hematopathologist with a public sector civil hospital. “This cannot be because of false negative tests since the population of such patients is quite large.”