GENEVA, Nov 21 (Reuters) - A mystery disease causing extreme drowsiness lasting over several days and mainly in children is affecting the region around the town of Cacuaco, north of the Angolan capital Luanda, according to the WHO. A report on the website of the agency, the United Nations' World Health Organisation, said over 30 cases had been treated at the Cacuaco hospital by November 19, 64 percent of them children under 15. The report recorded no deaths from the illness, from which it said patients recover slowly over several days, some of them even then still unable to walk unaided. Toxicological tests on blood samples from victims and carried out in Germany detected very high levels of bromide, leading WHO experts to suspect bromide poisoning as a possible cause of the outbreak, the report said. Further tests are being carried out on blood, food and environmental samples, which were being despatched to a British laboratory, according to the WHO. The agency said it had provided the Angolan health authorities with a clinical team, including a food safety expert to help carry out further investigations on the ground to confirm the cause of the outbreak. (Reporting by Robert Evans)
