The fight against yellow fever continues

Guinea’s health authorities, supported by the WHO and international NGOs, continue to fight a yellow fever epidemic that has been raging in the West African nation since September.

According to the WHO office in the Guinean capital, Conakry, there were 190 cases and 88 deaths between 4 September and 19 November. WHO contributed some 137,000 doses of the yellow fever vaccine to the country, Professor Brahima Koumare of the WHO epidemiological service in Abidjan told IRIN. The UN agency also deployed an epidemiologist from WHO-Conakry and a consultant contracted by its Harare-based Africa regional office to reinforce the Guinean national team fighting the epidemic, Koumare said.

WHO’s goal is to achieve at least 80 percent vaccination in the affected area, he said.

The epicentre of the epidemic - and the place where it was first detected - is Mamou, about 200 km east of Conakry and some 30 km north of Guinea’s border with Sierra Leone. Up to 19 November, some 130 cases and 52 deaths had been registered there, WHO-Conakry reported. The remainder of the cases and fatalities were in the neighbouring districts of Labe, Mali, Koubia, Tougue and Kankan, according to WHO.

Teams from Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF) and another NGO, Hopital sans Frontieres, have also been helping the Guinean Ministry of Health fight the epidemic, according to MSF, which said that by November 24, there had been 237 confirmed cases and 101 deaths.

MSF has provided 500,000 vaccines. It said on Wednesday that the operation had been hampered by a temporary lack of vaccines on the market and that it was trying to get another 500,000 doses.