A yellow fever outburst in Angola has killed 51 people, in
the first widespread of the disease to hit the country in 30 years, official
statistics showed on Monday.
A total of 241 people were now diseased, the southern African
country's national director of public health, Adelaide de Carvalho, said.
More than 450,000 people had been vaccinated in the capital of a target of
nearly 1.6 million, Carvalho added.
The centre of the outbreak is the capital Luanda's eastern
suburb of Viana where 29 deaths and 92 cases have been reported over the past
six weeks, she said.
There is no specific treatment for the yellow fever disease
which is transmitted by infected mosquitoes and found in tropical regions of
Africa and Latin America's Amazon region.
Yellow fever symptoms include severe headache, nausea, vomiting
and fatigue, according to the World Health Organization.
Yellow fever can enter a toxic phase in some people, leading to
organ failure and death.
Poor sanitation is being attributed for stoking the outbreak, by
providing fertile breeding grounds for mosquitos.
Angola lies in the yellow fever belt of Africa where vaccination
against the disease is recommended.
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