Hepatitis E identified in Bangui suburbs

Medical technicians have identified the presence of hepatitis E in the northern suburbs of Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic (CAR), after three months of uncertainty. "When the medical doctor coordinating Begoua Health Centre informed us on 22 July, we sent an assessment mission there that concluded that there was a serious problem," Dr Carlos Recio, the medical coordinator of Medicos Sin Fronteras-Spain (MSF), told IRIN on Wednesday. He added that the first blood tests carried out by Institut Pasteur from Tuesday to Wednesday showed that 48 of 98 cases tested positive for the disease. An emergency committee comprising officials from the Ministry of Health, MSF, the World Health Organisation (WHO), the Institut Pasteur, and the National Laboratory has been set up to tackle the problem. The WHO says the hepatitis E virus causes acute sporadic and epidemic viral hepatitis. Typical symptoms of the disease include jaundice, anorexia, inflammation of the liver, abdominal pain and tenderness, nausea and vomiting, and fever, it says. The disease is spread via the oral-faecal route, and has been implicated in several food and waterborne outbreaks, WHO says. "Consumption of faecally contaminated drinking water has given rise to epidemic cases, and the ingestion of raw or uncooked shellfish has been the source of sporadic cases in endemic areas," the UN agency reports. MSF, the CAR Red Cross, and a local NGO, Jeunesse centrafricaine conquerante pour le developpement, has intensified its public information campaign in the different neighbourhoods of Begoua. WHO says control measures against the disease should include the provision of safe drinking water and proper disposal of sanitary waste and other measures. In line with this, MSF has proposed that wells be dug at least 30 metres away from latrines, that the government strictly enforce laws on domestic animals, and that the government provide the public with clean water. "We hope that with the dry season the epidemics will disappear," Recio said.