10 deaths reported from yellow fever

Sierra Leone's Ministry of Health and Sanitation has reported 10 deaths and 90 cases of yellow fever in eight districts in the country, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported on Tuesday. Most of the cases were from the northern Tonkolili district. To contain the disease, WHO said, the Ministry conducted a mass immunization campaign giving 100,000 doses of the yellow fever vaccine from 22-31 August in four of 11 chiefdoms in the district. Last week, the International Coordinating Group (ICG) for Vaccine Provision for yellow fever provided the Ministry with another 150,000 doses of the vaccine to implement a mass immunization campaign in the seven remaining chiefdoms of Tonkolili district. The campaign is planned to start in the first week of October. The WHO West African sub-regional team was helping to strengthen surveillance in the affected areas and to coordinate the response, WHO said. Additional samples from the surrounding districts were also being collected for testing. The other affected districts include Bomabali, Kenema, Koinadugu, Port Loko, Kambia and Kono. Yellow fever is a viral disease that used to cause epidemics in Africa and the Americas. Infection causes a wide spectrum of symptoms ranging from mild to severe illness and death. The "yellow" in the name is explained by the jaundice that affects some patients. Although an effective vaccine has been available for 60 years, the number of people infected over the last two decades has increased and yellow fever is now a serious public health issue again. The disease is caused by the yellow fever virus, which belongs to the flavivirus group. In Africa there are two distinct genetic types associated with East and West Africa.