Communicable diseases ravage countries

Three of six communicable diseases reported by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to have broken out in Africa since January affected countries in the Great Lakes region. According to statistics published by the WHO regional office for Africa in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo (ROC), outbreaks of Ebola were reported in the ROC; malaria in Burundi; and cholera in Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Tanzania. The diseases that affected other African countries included meningitis, yellow fever and the Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever. WHO said that by 28 March, 116 deaths from Ebola had been reported in the Kelle and Mbomo districts in Cuvette Ouest Province of the ROC. "An international team is currently providing technical support, and two isolation centres have been set up to control the outbreak," WHO stated. "Further actions planned include the rotation of outbreak control teams working in the area, resource mobilisation and recruitment of more consultants to boost control efforts," WHO said. The latest WHO update on Ebola, of 14 April, indicated that the ROC Ministry of Health had reported 140 cases, including 123 deaths in Mbomo and Kelle. "The most recent nine reported cases lived in the same remote village of Ndjoukou (in Kelle) and occurred within the last two weeks. Twelve contacts have been identified in this village and are being visited on a regular basis by national Red Cross volunteers," WHO reported. A total of 191,709 cases of malaria were reported following an outbreak between January and March in several communes in Gitega, Kayanza and Ngogi provinces in Burundi, WHO said. Burundi, the DRC and Tanzania were among 11 African countries in which cholera outbreaks posed "a serious public health concern," WHO reported. The organisation said there was an upsurge in cholera in many of the countries during the rainy season, which fell in the first quarter of the year.