Malaria and whooping coughs kill 36 in Jonglei’s Duk County

January 21, 2012 (PARIAK) – A malaria and whooping cough outbreak in Jonglei State’s Duk County, has reportedly killed 36 people over the last month with a further 761 cases under medical care in Pajut clinic.

The head of the health centre in Pajut village, Gai Tut, on Saturday told Sudan Tribune that 14 people have died of malaria and over 400 other people of various ages have been affected over the last four weeks.

According to Tut, their clinics started receiving malaria and whooping cough cases in their numbers over last few days. He says some patients were lost due to lack of drugs.

In the last two weeks 22 people have died and a further 361 are suffering from whooping coughs, a contagious disease caused by Bordetella Parapertussis bacteria.

Complaining about an acute lack of drugs, Tut called upon the state government to urgently send relevant drugs to the village.

The clinic is too small to cope with such a big number of patients, Tut said.

Delivering medicine to Duk County like other areas of Jonglei State is difficult due to the poor roads and infrastructure in South Sudan’s largest state.

Most drugs from Mareng [the headquarters of Duk County] delivered to Pajut clinic from April to November last year were carried on the heads of local people at a cost Duk County’s Health Medical Department officer, Samuel Jima, told Sudan Tribune in Bor last week.

“Even a carton of syringes, the lightest one, was carried from Mareng to Pajut [for] a 100SSP ($38) on people’s heads,” said Jima.

(ST)