Regional medical inspector Dr Andre Kasogo Mulamba told AFP that 23 people have died, up from 22 on August 8, while the number of cases of the mystery illness has more than doubled to 997 people.

The epidemic broke out on July 29 at Kabongola, about 240 km (144 miles) from Kindu, the main city of the central Maniema province.

All those who died from the disease worked at a diamond mine near Kabongola, which employs many of the town's 6,000 inhabitants.

The "bloody diarrhoea" is accompanied by fever, pains in the throat, vomiting and later difficulty in breathing, said Kasogo, who arrived in the region on Thursday.

"We have come to track the evolution of the epidemic and provide medicines to the local medical authorities," Kasogo said.

Another medical team from the Belgian division of the international aid organisation Medecins sans Frontieres (Doctors without Borders) have sent a team to the region.

"Together we are going to evaluate the situation and take samples to identify the disease," he said.

On August 4 anti-diarrhoea drugs and water purification products were sent by the British aid organisation Merlin from Kinshasa to Kabongola.

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