Suspected yellow fever cases in 8 out of 15 counties

Suspected yellow fever cases have appeared in eight of the 15 counties in Liberia, three of them along the border with Guinea and Cote d’Ivoire, a senior official of World Health Organisation (WHO) revealed in the capital, Monrovia. Dr Mekonnen Admassu told IRIN Thursday at the WHO-Liberia offices that the government and his organisation had received reports of 39 suspected cases of yellow fever, a potentially fatal disease that is transmitted by mosquitoes and is spreading rapidly through the country. “There is an increase in yellow fever cases. As of March 10th, we received 39 more cases from eight counties and three persons out of the four suspected cases sent for laboratory examination at the Pasteur Institute in Dakar, Senegal, have died,” he said. As at 26 February, WHO had reported three deaths and two suspected cases of yellow fever. WHO’s Dr Luzito Simao had warned at the time that "conditions are ripe here for an epidemic." Cases have been found in Nimba County in the north central region of the country and which borders both Guinea and Cote d’Ivoire. Grand Gedeh and River Gee counties that lie to the east have also reported cases. Both abut the border with Cote d’Ivoire. On Monday, Admassu told IRIN that a vaccination programme was yet to reach all of the affected counties. Immunisation had begun in Nimba and and the central county of Bong and was scheduled to begin in Montserrado County, which includes the capital, Monrovia, on Monday. Expansion of the immunisation programme was promised “soon” following the arrival of nearly half a million more doses of the yellow fever vaccine. “To combat the disease we have just brought in an additional 495,000 doses – yesterday- which is sufficient to handle the problem,” said Admassu. Other counties infected are Gbarpolu to the north of Monrovia, Grand Bassa, where the second city of Buchanan is located, and River Cess to the east. Early diagnosis of yellow fever is difficult as many of the first symptoms are similar to other tropical diseases, including malaria. Severe cases of yellow fever can cause death by liver failure, producing a jaundiced effect in the victim that gives the disease its name. Although there is a vaccine against yellow fever, once the disease is contracted there is no treatment other than rest. WHO’s Admassu was unable to give a breakdown of the location of the 39 recorded cases, but he said Bong and Nimba counties were the most severely affected, particularly Salala District in Bong. Salala has a large number of overcrowded camps for internally displaced persons, IDPs. Four of the camps, Mambu 1 through 4 are particularly overcrowded. IRIN visited the camps three months ago, and was told by one UNHCR worker that people were dying there as a direct result of the unhygienic conditions. So far, 47,763 people have been immunised by WHO in a bid to halt the spread of the disease.