WHO sends teams to investigate hemorrhagic fever in Darfur
By Mohammed Amin
October 25, 2016 (KHARTOUM) – UN World Health Organization (WHO) has deployed medical teams in the western Sudanese region of Darfur to investigate reported cases of hemorrhagic fever in the region.
Also, South Darfur health minister Yacoub Ibrahim al-Dmoki last week confirmed the arrival of federal teams to Nyala on its way to East Darfur state to investigate reports about a VHF outbreak there. But he said his state is free of the viral hemorrhagic fever (VHF) disaster.
WHO representative in Sudan Dr Naeema Hassan Al-Gaseer Monday told Sudan Tribune that the WHO investigation teams have been already deployed on the ground in three Darfur states.
Al-Gaseer said that the investigation is aiming to identify what kind of fever is spread in the region, adding that the teams have been deployed in East, West and Central Darfur states.
”We sent our medical investigation teams in a joint survey mission with the Sudanese ministry of health to collect information to enable us to diagnose what kind of fever is spread,” she said.
”So far we can’t confirm whether it is a hemorrhagic fever, Malaria or other kinds of diseases,” she added.
The head of WHO office in Khartoum further pointed out that the investigation will also include the North and South Darfur states.
She called on the media to raise public awareness of the risks of consuming contaminated food or water, among other preventive measures to fight against epidemics in the region.
The VHF is a general term for a severe illness, sometimes associated with bleeding, that may be caused by a number of viruses. The term is applied to diseases such as Lassa fever, Rift Valley fever, Ebola, yellow fever, and dengue among others.
last week, the director of the Epidemiology Department in East Darfur state Mohamed Joda told Sudan Tribune that the state didn’t witness new cases of hemorrhagic fever disease but admitted that it recently killed one person who died in a hospital in the capital Khartoum where he had been transported for treatment.
Pointing to the one-week incubation period of the viral infection, Joda further said that none of his family members has contracted the disease. Also, he ruled out its spread in the region.
In 2012, an outbreak of yellow fever hit the troubled region of western Sudan killing some 171 people. The federal health ministry and World Health Organization (WHO) reported that there had been 847 suspected cases.
(ST)