Haemorrhagic Fever: UN assessment response team arrives in Sudan
By Mohammed Amin
November 1, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – World health Organization (WHO) experts have arrived in Sudan on Sunday to assess the response to the hemorrhagic fever outbreak in Darfur.
In statements to Sudan Tribune on Sunday WHO Sudan’s director Naeema Hassan Al-Gaseer said the experts’ team has arrived to the Sudanese capital, adding they will immediately start their mission on the ground on Monday.
”They will visit the Darfur states to assess the situation and they will also evaluate the needed assistances of the Sudanese ministry of health in the fields of laboratory, surveillances and the preventive measures” Al-Gaseer added.
She confirmed that 103 persons have been died of the fever in the western region of Darfur. She further said that 182 suspected haemorrhagic fever (VHF) were reported in the five Darfur states.
In its weekly bulletin of this week, Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that the Ministry of Health (MoH) and the World Health Organization (WHO) reported on 27 October an outbreak of viral hemorrhagic fever (VHF) in Darfur.
“According to the MoH, from 29 August to 25 October a total of 182 suspected VHF cases, including 103 deaths, were reported in 12 localities in South, East, Central, West and North Darfur,”. OCHA revealed on Friday.
The medical tests in Darfur confirmed the presence of the West Nile virus in Central, West and North Darfur while samples from West and Central Darfur tested positive for Chikungunya virus.
West Nile virus is a type of haemorrhagic fever transmitted by infected mosquitoes. Chikungunya is a viral disease that is also transmitted by infected mosquitoes.
None of the samples tested positive for Yellow fever, Crimean Congo Haemorrhagic Fever, Dengue Fever or Rift Valley fever. the report says.
The highest number of cases was found in West Darfur (110) followed by North and Central Darfur with 33 cases each, five cases in East Darfur, while only one case tested positive in South Darfur.
Also, West Darfur had the highest number of fatalities (81), followed by North Darfur (15), six in Central Darfur and one in East Darfur.
The joint heath teams deployed in Darfur launched a campaign to eradicate the insects which transmit disease pathogens. they also started infection control measures in the affected localities.
“Additional pumps, fogging machines and insecticides—provided by MoH and WHO—will be transported to the affected states,” OCHA said.
In 2012, an outbreak of yellow fever hit the troubled region of western Sudan killing some 171 people. The federal health ministry and WHO reported that there had been 847 suspected cases.
(ST)