11 children die in dysentery outbreak

Health teams in eastern Yemen continued work on Monday to halt the spread of dysentery, from which several children have already died, according to local health officials.

The prime symptom of dysentery is diarrhoea containing blood. The illness can be fatal when caused by the shigella bacteria, which has been found in recent cases.

“More than 400 children have been treated since Saturday, 4 February, in the Khub wa Shath district, where six teams from the Ministry of Health have been working to combat the disease," said Ali Naji Abu Hadra, a health official supervising field teams in al-Jawf province, 167 km east of the capital, Sana.

“There were eleven confirmed cases of death among children in the district of Khub wa Shath up until Monday as a result of the disease,” he added.

Abu Hadra declined, however, to say how many children are already infected, but confirmed that medical teams would carry on working in the affected area.

“We can’t estimate how many children are infected in the whole district, but teams will continue until the disease is eradicated,” Abu Hadra said. According to the health ministry, the disease first broke out in al-Jawf province on 2 February.

The shigella bacteria is spread by direct or indirect contact with infected individuals, although food and water may be contaminated by direct or indirect contact with faecal material from infected people. The bacteria is, however, treatable with antibiotics.

Dr Najeeb Ghanim, MP and chairman of a parliamentary committee devoted to public health issues, criticised the ministry for its “shortcomings” in providing the affected area with adequate medical services and primary health care.

“The committee previously visited al-Jawf province,” said Ghanim, “and found an almost complete lack of primary health care and medical services.”

He went on to say he would raise the issue in the next meeting of parliament and summon the health minister to explain what measures had been taken to confront the disease.

Every year, some 1.1 million people worldwide are estimated to die from the shigella infection, and half of these are said to be children under the age of five, according to data from the World Health Organisation.