South Sudan declares yellow fever near Congo

November 29, 2018 (JUBA) – South Sudan Thursday declared a yellow fever outbreak in Nzara County near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) but did not report deaths due to the illness.

The World Health Organization (WHO) identifies yellow fever as “an acute viral haemorrhagic disease transmitted by infected mosquitoes”. The “yellow” in the name refers to the jaundice that affects some patients.

“The Ministry of Health would like to inform the public that there is a confirmed outbreak of yellow fever in Supiri village in Nzara County of Gbudue State,” stated Undersecretary in the Ministry of Health Makur Matur Koriom who was speaking to the press with Evans Liyosi WHO official in South Sudan.

He further said that the case of yellow fever had initially been suspected case of Ebola which recently re-emerged in the neighbouring country.

He asked the residents of the affected area to remain in place and abstaining from travelling to the DRC, adding the ministry will continue to monitor the situation to avoid the spread of yellow fever in the country.

The fever is transmitted from person to person by mosquitoes when infected people when they move to populated areas with high mosquito density.

WHO’s representative in South Sudan warned that the deadly virus can n spread in a very short time and vowed to support the government efforts to fight the virus.

“We will work closely with MOH (Ministry Of Health) and other partners that are on the ground to make sure that we are able to deploy more teams, train more health workers along the border,” said Liyosi.

(ST)