The World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Wednesday that a local mosquito transmitted a new case of yellow fever in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo‘s capital.
According to the Pasteur Institute in Dakar and the National Institute of Biomedical Research, this case of yellow fever did not come for Angola, which could raise the possibilities of an outbreak by local transmissions.
“Measures are being taken to strengthen investigation around this case to prevent the spread. Social mobilization activities and surveillance are going on with WHO support,” said Eugene Kabambi, a WHO spokesman.
Also, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is calling for an immediate scale-up in response. Dr. Fatoumata Nadotraoré Director of IFRC Africa region, states that limited vaccine supplies, poor sanitation, inadequate disease surveillance systems and everyday cross-border interaction could turn a national outbreak into a larger crisis if immediate community-based action is not taken.
The Yellow Fever outbreak was first detected in Angola in December 2015. According to WHO, close to 2,900 suspected cases have since been reported in all 18 provinces, with 325 deaths.
WHO is taking measures to prevent an outbreak
On May 2016, a mass immunization was carried out in Congo after discovering the first case of Yellow fever in the country last April, although, this case had been imported from neighboring Angola.
Two million people were expected to be immunized in the zones lying at the border with Angola, as well as in the provinces of Kinshasa and Kongo Central. The WHO stated that close to 2 million people had been vaccinated against Yellow Fever. However, pregnant women and children below nine months could not be immunized.
WHO said on Wednesday that 10.5 million people out of targeted 13.3 million have been vaccinated against Yellow Fever in hardest hit Angola. According to WHO website reports, many people have rushed to get vaccinated including those from districts that were not targeted for vaccination, which means good news because people understand the importance of prevention.
In different hospitals in the Congo Central, seven people have died in the region for contracting Yellow Fever.
The disease has already spread to Kenya and China. Apparently there is an outbreak in Uganda, which at the same time is generating fears of the mosquito-borne fever in cities in Asia and Africa.
Source: IFRC