The World Health Organization is embarking on a massive vaccination campaign to stem a deadly yellow fever outbreak in Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo that public health experts say threatens to expand beyond Africa.
The disease has killed more than 400 people and sickened thousands in the two countries, according to an alert that the WHO issued Tuesday.
The organization announced that it needs to vaccinate more than 14 million people in more than 8,000 locations in Congo's capital, Kinshasa, and along its border with Angola. Already more than 16 million people in the two countries have been given the vaccine.
“The yellow fever outbreak has found its way to dense, urban areas and hard-to-reach border regions, making planning for the vaccination campaign especially complex,” the alert noted.
The disease, which is transmitted by mosquitoes, is not highly contagious and is preventable through vaccination. Most people who are infected experience mild muscle pain and fever but recover within days. The virus can also cause bleeding from the nose, mouth, ears and eyes, however, and can lead to organ failure ending in death.
The WHO says the expanded undertaking will be one of the largest it has attempted in Africa, requiring 17.3 million syringes and 41,000 workers and volunteers. Another challenge will be the vaccine itself, which is in short supply in the region. It takes at least six months to manufacture the vaccine, so one-fifth of the standard dose will be given as a short-term solution to reach as many people as possible, according to the alert.
Also a challenge is the time in which workers have to vaccinate. Planning such a campaign typically takes several months. This outreach aims to end transmission of the disease by September, before the rainy season begins.
Source :https://www.washingtonpost.com/
TAGS: Yellow fever vaccine the Democratic Republic of the Congo Yellow
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