Is a “global crisis” to be expected? The International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC) expresses its concern that theyellow fever epidemic in Africa cannot reach other continents. “Limited vaccine supplies, inadequate disease surveillance systems, poor hygiene and daily economic and social cross-border interactions risk turning a national crisis into a global crisis,” suggested Julie Lyn Hall, director of the Department of Health of the Federation, quoted by AFP.
This acute viral haemorrhagic disease transmitted by infected Aedes aegypti mosquitoes (the same as that of Zika virus) has already killed 293 people in Africa since December 2015 according to a latest report from the World Health Organization (WHO) drawn up on May 12. The victims are mainly in Angola and in the capital Luanda.
A total of 2,267 suspected cases have been recorded but only 696 laboratory confirmed. A few cases have been reported in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Kenya and China, explaining the IFRC’s concern about the rapid spread of yellow fever. “Unvaccinated travelers risk turning this outbreak into a regional or international crisis if we don’t act quickly to protect vulnerable populations and help communities reduce their risk of infection,” feared Julie Lyn Hall, still at AFP.
The best way to reduce the risk of contamination is vaccination.
A potentially fatal disease
Once contracted in the patient, the yellow fever virus causes several symptoms: fever, muscle pain, headache, chills, loss of appetite, nausea or vomiting, reminds the WHO. In the most serious cases, these first symptoms can lead to a second, more toxic phase of the disease (15% of patients) and lead to jaundice, abdominal pain and vomiting. Bleeding may appear in the mouth, nose, eyes or stomach. When this is the case, blood appears in the vomitus. The risk of death is real and occurs in half of severely infected patients.
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