WHO needs 7 million Vitamin C tablets to tackle scurvy

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Thursday it urgently needed seven million tablets of Vitamin C to treat an outbreak of scurvy in the western Afghan province of Ghowr, where up to 40 people have died recently. WHO spokeswoman Loretta Hieber Girardet told IRIN from the Afghan capital, Kabul, that scurvy had weakened the resistance of some of the villagers, hastening their deaths from other undiagnosed diseases. "There are also cases of night blindness in these villages due to lack of Vitamin A," Girardet said. "This is an acute nutritional crisis there," she added. The deaths were discovered when a two-member team from the French NGO Action Contre le Faim [ACF] travelled to the district of Teyvareh last week to carry out an assessment. A WHO statement issued from Kabul said a five person medical team, led by a WHO epidemiologist, which had been sent to the remote district had found widespread scurvy, particularly in 15 villages. "It is believed that the scurvy has weakened the population, making them vulnerable to a secondary, still undiagnosed disease, that has resulted in the deaths of 40 people to date," the statement added. It said no new deaths had been reported but health officials were concerned about serious nutritional problems in all of Ghowr Province. "A WHO nutritionist is due to travel to Teyvareh later this week," the statement added. A WHO official told IRIN from the western Afghan city of Herat that the medical team of the ACF in the area since 2 March was successfully airlifted out on WFP helicopters. "None of them are showing any signs of hemorrhagic fever nor any other contagious disease," the official said. Some reports had suggested that there could be an outbreak of highly contagious Congo fever in the district, a disease which brings about bleeding and leads to a gruesome death, but a WHO doctor told IRIN from Kabul that it was not clear yet what was the cause. "We can't authenticate the cause of deaths. We have started a scientific investigation," said Momin Abedi. Elsewhere WHO has received reports of six deaths in Darwaz in Badakhshan Province. "The cases entail adults and children who reportedly developed high fever and a skin rash on the face, and then died within two days of developing the symptoms. Investigations are being carried out by local health officials with WHO support," the WHO statement said. It said WHO officials have confirmed that 60 children had died of an outbreak of influenza in the Yumgan valley in Badakhshan province. "The outbreak is now under control with no new cases reported," the statement added.