Health

Illness claims the lives of victims within 24 hours of them contracting the symptoms, which include headache, weight loss and loss of consciousness

A “mysterious” disease that kills patients within 24 hours has claimed at least 18 lives in a south-eastern Nigerian town, the government said.

“Twenty-three people were affected and 18 deaths were recorded,” the Ondo state health commissioner, Dayo Adeyanju, said on Saturday.

The government spokesman for the state, Kayode Akinmade, earlier gave a toll of 17 dead.

“Seventeen people have died of the mysterious disease since it broke out early this week in Ode-Irele town,” Akinmade told AFP by telephone.

The disease, whose symptoms include headache, weight loss, blurred vision and loss of consciousness, killed the victims within a day of falling ill, he said.

Laboratory tests have so far ruled out Ebola or any other virus, Akinmade said.

The World Health Organisation meanwhile said it had information on 14 cases with at least 12 dead.

“Common symptoms were sudden blurred vision, headache, loss of consciousness followed by death, occurring within 24 hours,” WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic told AFP by email, adding that an investigation was ongoing.

Another WHO spokesman, Gregory Hartl, said that according to a preliminary report, all those affected began showing symptoms between 13 and 15 April.

Akinmade said health officials and experts from the government and aid agencies, as well as WHO epidemiologists, had arrived in Ode-Irele to search for answers.

The state’s health commissioner, Adeyanju, said that he and his officials had gone on a “field visit with the WHO, Unicef, NCDC (Nigerian Centre for Disease Control). This was basically a case search to unravel the cause (of the disease),” he said.

Jasarevic said blood and urine samples had been taken from two victims and cerebrospinal fluid from another.

“All samples have been sent to Lagos University Teaching Hospital this morning, and results are still pending. Investigations are still ongoing,” he said.

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Ngwa Bertrand

19.Apr.2015

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The war against wild polio virus has at last yielded fruits as Cameroon was on March 26th declared a non-exporter of the virus. The news was greeted by Littoral’s Secretary General Ludovic Ngbwa, and the health team who immediately started the third polio vaccination campaign for 2015, which is the 13th since 2014, in Laïc la Prospérité Nursery and Primary School in Newtown Aéroport III. It was an exercise that did involve the vaccination of children below five years and as well used the opportunity for a door-to-door vaccination in the neighbourhood in a bid to knockout the wild polio virus from the region.

To Dr. Jacques Georges Otti, there is visible progress since 2014. “Unvaccinated children during the 5th vaccination campaign in 2014 stood at 14 per cent and later reduced to 5 per cent during the 9th round and now we are at 4.8 per cent which shows that some efforts has been made,” he explained. Though Cameroon is no longer considered as a wild polio exporting country, the immunisation campaigns have to continue in order to completely eradicate the virus. Since the vaccine does not cause any harm to a child, parents were encouraged to vaccinate their kids during the up-coming vaccination campaigns since about 300,000 refugees still reside in the country and vaccine is the major weapon to completely eliminate the virus. From 19 health districts last year, to 24 in 2015, is telling of the region’s certainty to vaccinate all 602,122 children.

 

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Ngwa Bertrand

30.Mar.2015

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Guinea has declared a 45-day “health emergency” in five regions of the African country to stop the spread of the deadly Ebola disease. In a statement published in national media on Saturday, Guinean President Alpha Conde said that he was declaring the health emergency in the west and southwest of the country, adding that the focus of the virus “has shifted to our country’s coastal areas.” “That is why I am declaring a reinforced health emergency for a period of 45 days in the prefectures of Forecariah, Coyah, Dubreka, Boffa and Kindia,” he said.

Conde added that “strict measures” will also be taken in the capital, Conakry, to “increase vigilance” in communities against the spread of the virus. “Wherever the need may be, throughout this period, measures of restriction and confinement will be taken,” said the president. The restrictions include the temporary closure of hospitals and clinics where there have been cases of Ebola, as well as new rules on burials and possible lockdowns.

The Ebola outbreak began in the African country in December 2013. More than 24,000 people in nine countries have been infected with the virus, and over 10,000 of them have lost their lives since the Ebola outbreak. Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone are the three African countries worst hit by the deadly virus. There is no specific treatment or vaccine for Ebola, which is a form of hemorrhagic fever with diarrhea, vomiting, as well as internal and external bleeding as its symptoms. The virus spreads through contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person.

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Ngwa Bertrand

29.Mar.2015

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What is tuberculosis (TB)? How can it be prevented? What do I do if I am infected with TB? Cameroonians in all the nooks and crannies of the country are receiving answers to these questions and many others as the world commemorates Tuberculosis Day under the theme “Reach, Treat and Cure Everyone”. The Permanent Secretary for the National Programme for the Fight Against Tuberculosis, Dr Jean-Louis Foe Abena says in line with activities to mark the day, which was commemorated on March 24, public talks and free screening on TB have been organised throughout the national territory to sensitise the population on the disease whose treatment is free of charge in the country.

Statistics from the National Programme for the Fight Against Tuberculosis indicate that since, 2014, some 26,000 Cameroonians are diagnosed with the TB virus. Information further indicates that 40 per cent of those suffering from TB are co-infected with the HIV virus. Dr Jean-Louis Abena says although 82 per cent of those infected with TB were successfully treated, because of the presence of HIV, the eradication of TB is taking longer than expected. The Permanent Secretary explains that while some patients suffer from induced resistance to the TB treatment because they do not strictly take their drugs as required, others develop natural resistance making TB treatment complicated.

Although there is a global effort in the country to curb TB, Dr Abena lamented that the prevalence rate of TB in the East Region of the country increased up to 35 per cent because of the presence of refugees. With the persistence of TB in the society, Dr Abena says the Ministry of Public Health is using this week to sensitise people on TB, which is that bacterial infection spread through inhaling tiny droplets from the coughs or sneezes of an infected person. Although it is a serious condition, Dr Abena says it can be cured with proper treatment. For one week, Cameroonians will have the opportunity to discuss with health experts on the causes, symptoms, treatment and the importance of a TB vaccine. The week is also an opportunity to raise awareness about the burden of TB and the need to consult a specialist as the best way-out in case of prolonged coughing.

 

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Ngwa Bertrand

27.Mar.2015

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Sierra Leone has announced plans to confine nearly 2.5 million of people to their homes across the capital of Freetown as well as in north of the country for three days in a bid to curtail the deadly Ebola epidemic. “The lockdown will be conducted from March 27 to March 29 and will be like the one we conducted in September last year,” said Palo Conteh, the head of the country’s National Ebola Response Center on Thursday. The measure, which takes place following a similar nationwide lockdown in September, was announced after the World Health Organization (WHO) reported on Wednesday that the overall number of fatalities caused by the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone had climbed to nearly 10,200 since December 2013. “The government and partners are hopeful that latent cases that are now not being reported or recorded will come out,” Conteh added. Authorities plan to use the 72-hour window to search out patients in the Western Area, which includes Freetown as well as the northern districts of Bombali and Port Loko. Teams of experts will go door-to-door to remind households of the risks of traditional burials, which is believed to be a major factor in the spread of the deadly virus, as well as probing the fatalities not reported to the government.

The outbreak of the fatal disease has so far taken nearly 3,700 lives in the poor west African country, which is among the three worst-hit nations in the region, including Guinea and Liberia. One of the deadliest viruses known to man, Ebola is spread merely through direct contact with the bodily fluids of those that have recently died from the disease or an infected individual showing symptoms such as fever or vomiting. This is while no proven vaccine or treatment has so far been developed to cure the hemorrhagic fever it causes, although several vaccines are under trial in the three countries and elsewhere.

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Ngwa Bertrand

19.Mar.2015

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The UN health agency says the death toll from the Ebola epidemic has passed the 10,000 mark, with the three hardest-hit West African countries taking the brunt of the plight. The World Health Organization (WHO) reported on Thursday that the number of the deaths had hit 10,004 and the total number of cases stood at 24,350. Almost all of the deaths and cases have occurred in Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea. There have also been six deaths in Mali, one in the United States, and eight in Nigeria, all of which have since been declared Ebola-free.

Spain and Senegal, which have also been declared free of Ebola, had one case each but no deaths. The WHO on Wednesday said the fight against Ebola was "going in the right direction." The United Nations has warned that the spread of the deadly virus is still not fully controlled despite a significant fall in the number of new cases across West Africa. Ebola is a form of hemorrhagic fever, whose symptoms are diarrhea, vomiting, and bleeding. The virus spreads through direct contact with infected blood, feces, or sweat. It can also be spread through sexual contact or the unprotected handling of contaminated corpses.

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Ngwa Bertrand

13.Mar.2015

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