Some 3,000 Babenga threatened by bush yaws

At least 3,000 inhabitants of the Department of Likouala, in northern Republic of Congo, are seriously threatened by bush yaws, a contagious tropical disease, the UNICEF programmes administrator in the country, Liliane Tumbe, said on Friday. "We have been able to treat 135 pygmies, 41 of them children, during our recent visit to the area," she said in Brazzaville, the nation's capital. However, she said many of the area's inhabitants, known as the Babenga, could not be treated because they had left their encampments to go fish. Bush yaws is an infectious tropical disease resembling syphilis in its early stages; marked by red skin eruptions and ulcerating lesions in places such as the nose, mouth and ears. There are several varieties of this disease, variously known as framboesia, pian, verrugas, and crab-yaws. The disease is commonplace among the 6,000 Babenga, sometimes know as pygmies, in in Likouala. The infection arises from poor hygiene. "Fortunately, it is not difficult to treat this disease. A simple injection of the antibiotic extenciline will kill the germ," Tumba said.