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At least 88 people have died from yellow fever in an unusual outbreak of the mosquito-borne disease in central Guinea.
The epidemic is centred in the area of Mamou, about 200 km east of the capital, Conakry, a doctor with the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Conakry told IRIN on Friday.
He said medical workers had already vaccinated 100,000 people in Mamou and aimed to innoculate nearly 200,000 more in the short term. The population is also receiving information about the disease and on the use of mosquito nets.
The doctor said it was the first yellow fever outbreak of such severity in the region and an investigation was underway. He attributed the outbreak to large population movements and changing ecology.
There have also been yellow fever outbreaks in neighbouring Liberia and Sierra Leone this year. All three countries are characterized by instability, high numbers of internally displaced persons or refugees and environmental degradation. The city of Mamou is located about 30 km north of the border with Sierra Leone, where hundreds of thousands of refugees are camped.
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
