Published Date: 2015-04-17 21:29:40
Subject: PRO/AH/EDR> Plague - Zambia: (ES) bubonic, susp
Archive Number: 20150417.3305202
PLAGUE - ZAMBIA: (EASTERN PROVINCE) BUBONIC, SUSPECTED
******************************************************
A ProMED-mail post
http://www.promedmail.org
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
http://www.isid.org
Date: Thu 16 Apr 2015
Source: Outbreak News Today [edited]
http://outbreaknewstoday.com/plague-outbreak-kills-three-in-zambia-24623/
A outbreak, likely of bubonic plague, in Nyimba District in Eastern Province, Zambia, has resulted in at least 3 deaths, according to a Times of Zambia report.
Eastern Province Permanent Secretary Chanda Kasolo disclosed during the Provincial Epidemics Preparedness Prevention Control and Management meeting in Chipata yesterday [15 Apr 2015] that the outbreak of the suspected plague had so far affected 13 people from Kavyeni Village.
Mr Kasolo said in a speech read on his behalf by assistant secretary Beenzu Chikuba that health workers from Nyimba District health office and some from the provincial health office had already been dispatched to address the situation.
Blood samples have also been collected from patients and sent to Lusaka awaiting confirmation of the disease.
Plague is an infectious disease caused by the bacterium, _Yersinia pestis_. It is found in animals throughout the world, most commonly rats, but other rodents like ground squirrels, prairie dogs, chipmunks, rabbits, and voles. Fleas typically serve as the vector of plague.
Human cases have been linked to the domestic cats and dogs that brought infected fleas into the house. People can also get infected through direct contact with an infected animal, through inhalation and in the case of pneumonic plague, person to person.
_Yersinia pestis_ [plague] is treatable with antimicrobials if started early enough.
[Byline: Robert Herriman]
--
Communicated by:
Dr Tony Ellam
Consultant in Communicable Disease Control (ret)
<tonypj@meadlane.freeserve.co.uk>
[ProMED-mail thanks Dr Ellam for submitting this post.
Endemic in a number of African countries including Madagascar, Congo DR, Uganda, and Zambia, _Yersinia pestis_ is a category A potential bioterrorism agent. Human infections are rare but can be life-threatening. The plague case-fatality rate depends on the clinical presentation (that is, bubonic, septicemic, or pneumonic) and timing of antibiotic therapy initiation; if untreated, the case fatality rate is over 50 percent for bubonic plague and approaches 100 percent for pneumonic plague. Rapid laboratory identification can help guide therapy. - Mod.LL
[Readers please note there are no prairie dogs or chipmunks in Zambia -- those are North American species. - Mod.JW]
Subject: PRO/AH/EDR> Plague - Zambia: (ES) bubonic, susp
Archive Number: 20150417.3305202
PLAGUE - ZAMBIA: (EASTERN PROVINCE) BUBONIC, SUSPECTED
******************************************************
A ProMED-mail post
http://www.promedmail.org
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
http://www.isid.org
Date: Thu 16 Apr 2015
Source: Outbreak News Today [edited]
http://outbreaknewstoday.com/plague-outbreak-kills-three-in-zambia-24623/
A outbreak, likely of bubonic plague, in Nyimba District in Eastern Province, Zambia, has resulted in at least 3 deaths, according to a Times of Zambia report.
Eastern Province Permanent Secretary Chanda Kasolo disclosed during the Provincial Epidemics Preparedness Prevention Control and Management meeting in Chipata yesterday [15 Apr 2015] that the outbreak of the suspected plague had so far affected 13 people from Kavyeni Village.
Mr Kasolo said in a speech read on his behalf by assistant secretary Beenzu Chikuba that health workers from Nyimba District health office and some from the provincial health office had already been dispatched to address the situation.
Blood samples have also been collected from patients and sent to Lusaka awaiting confirmation of the disease.
Plague is an infectious disease caused by the bacterium, _Yersinia pestis_. It is found in animals throughout the world, most commonly rats, but other rodents like ground squirrels, prairie dogs, chipmunks, rabbits, and voles. Fleas typically serve as the vector of plague.
Human cases have been linked to the domestic cats and dogs that brought infected fleas into the house. People can also get infected through direct contact with an infected animal, through inhalation and in the case of pneumonic plague, person to person.
_Yersinia pestis_ [plague] is treatable with antimicrobials if started early enough.
[Byline: Robert Herriman]
--
Communicated by:
Dr Tony Ellam
Consultant in Communicable Disease Control (ret)
<tonypj@meadlane.freeserve.co.uk>
[ProMED-mail thanks Dr Ellam for submitting this post.
Endemic in a number of African countries including Madagascar, Congo DR, Uganda, and Zambia, _Yersinia pestis_ is a category A potential bioterrorism agent. Human infections are rare but can be life-threatening. The plague case-fatality rate depends on the clinical presentation (that is, bubonic, septicemic, or pneumonic) and timing of antibiotic therapy initiation; if untreated, the case fatality rate is over 50 percent for bubonic plague and approaches 100 percent for pneumonic plague. Rapid laboratory identification can help guide therapy. - Mod.LL
[Readers please note there are no prairie dogs or chipmunks in Zambia -- those are North American species. - Mod.JW]