A mystery illness found in a remote part of Congo has been officially identified as a severe form of malaria, which has sickened nearly 600 people and killed 143.

Congo’s health ministry told Reuters this week that malaria was the culprit: “The mystery has finally been solved. It’s a case of severe malaria in the form of a respiratory illness,” it said Tuesday in a statement, according to Reuters. The ministry did not respond to multiple inquiries from NBC News.

"The mystery has finally been solved," Congo's health ministry says, after an unidentified disease outbreak started killing mainly women and children in a remote region.

Earlier this month, local authorities said the disease had killed 143 people in the southwestern Kwango province in November.

The disease outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which was previously unknown, was officially identified as malaria, according to a Telegraph report citing the country's health ministry statement on Tuesday.

A mysterious illness outbreak that has sickened at least 416 people and killed 31 in a remote region of the Democratic Republic of Congo may be at least partly caused by malaria, health officials said Tuesday.

Malaria has been identified as the likeliest cause of an illness that has killed more than 80 people in south-western Democratic Republic of Congo, Africa's main health agency said. Victims of the previously unknown disease had been suffering flu-like symptoms such as fever, headaches, breathing difficulties and anaemia.

Haemorrhagic fever isn’t typically associated with parasite-caused malaria, meaning the outbreak may be caused by more than severe malaria, authorities said. View on euronews

The mystery disease's virus, which has remained unidentified for over three weeks now, is suspected to have been a factor alongside malaria in the outbreak.