Angola: Unidentifed illness kills at least 21 children in Luanda - caused by malaria

[alert]

There's not enough here to hazard a guess as to a diagnosis, but the narrow age range of the victims, along with the roughly simultaneous illness, might suggest a poisoning, perhaps related to something happening in a school.

Published Date: 2015-05-09 21:11:23
Subject: PRO/AH/EDR> Undiagnosed illness - Angola: (LU) fatal, RFI
Archive Number: 20150509.3352592
UNDIAGNOSED ILLNESS - ANGOLA: (LUANDA) FATAL, REQUEST FOR INFORMATION
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Date: Fri 8 May 2015
Source: Jornal de Noticias [in Portuguese, trans. Mod.TY, edited]
http://www.jn.pt/PaginaInicial/Mundo...ent_id=4557809


Health authorities in Luanda, Angola, are investigating a disease, still undiagnosed, that in just a few days killed 21 children between the ages of 9-12 years.

This information was presented this Friday [8 May 2015] to Lusa [News Agency of Portugal] by the Cacuaco Municipal Administrator Carlos Cavquila, confirming that this is the area of Angolan and Cuban physicians to investigate the situation and that an operation for pest control and cleanup is already taking place in the Mulundo neighborhood in the Funda community.

"We went to the area today and await the experts to inform us what is going on. The disease presents with symptoms similar to malaria, but more severe. We have now distributed bed nets and we are carrying out pest and rodent control in that area," the Cacuaco Administrator explained.

Between 30 Apr to 5 May [2015], 21 children in that neighborhood died after presenting with high fever and abdominal pain, among other symptoms -- a clinical picture that, according to the populace, becomes severe "very rapidly," progressing to death.

Yellow fever, dengue, malaria and chikungunya are some of the [etiologic] hypotheses that the Angola health authorities -- with help of a specialist of the WHO delegation in Luanda -- are trying to figure out.

"We are making house visits because this is a scary number. Today we could only go to 5 houses, where there were 6 deaths," the Cacuaco Municipal Health Director, Catarina Uatanha, told Lusa.

According to the responsible authority, no new fatal cases have been registered since 5 May [2015], but 6 patients are hospitalized in a Barra do Dande health unit.

"For now, it is too early to draw conclusions. We need to look around on the ground, with collection of various elements such as water, in order to see what is happening," added Catherine Uatanha.

--
Communicated by:
Roland Hubner
Superior Health Council
Brussels
Belgium
<roland.hubner@sante.belgique.be>

[The symptoms reported are too general to speculate on what the etiological agent involved in these unfortunate cases might be. No mention is made of what the autopsy findings were, if any were made. Nor is there mention made of patient samples being taken for laboratory testing. Dengue, malaria and chikungunya all occur in Angola. Yellow fever would be of particular concern. Chikungunya virus infections are an unlikely cause of these deaths, given that the case fatality rate for this infection is quite low, and older individuals, often with underlying medical problems, are most at risk of death from this virus. ProMED would appreciate receiving additional information as it becomes available.

A map showing the location of Luanda in Angola can be accessed at http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/africa/angola.gif. - Mod.TY

 

[Pathfinder]

Luanda, province of Angola
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luanda_Province


Translation Google

09/05/2015 - Sat: 16'22 - Updated 05/09/2015 - Sat:.. 16'23

Angola: A strange disease kills twenty children in Cacuaco

Luanda - Twenty children aged from nine to ten years, have died in the last ten days of illness so far unidentified, at Mulundo district, Cacuaco municipality, outskirts of Luanda.

A medical team is working to try to evaluate the diagnosis of this disease, in accordance with the notifications of increase in cases of deaths, said Friday to ANGOP the City Manager of Public Health, Oapanga Catarina.

According to the official, epidemiological vigilance delegation therefore also performs research in this direction and blood was collected from larvas to demystify this phenomenon, she added.

Describing as "very dangerous" disease, the Director of Public Health urged local people to sleep under the mosquito net, to coexist safely with animals and see if the water can be drunk safely.

For its part, Evariste Epalanga, coordinator of Mulundo district, said that the first symptoms resemble those of malaria, namely high fever, abdomen pains and very strong headaches also.

Comprising three communes, Cacuaco, populated by about 26,000 inhabitants, is a town at the edge of the Atlantic Ocean. Neighbour of the municipality of Viana and Sambizanga slum, it is bordering Dande, municipality of the province of Bengo.

http://www.portalangop.co.ao/angola...aco,adbce9ca-e9d6-4e6b-9eb7-346c80b6559c.html

 

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Translation Google

05/11/2015 &#149; 9:19 a.m.

Hospital registers over 30 cases of malaria every day

Vast majority of victims are children under ten years.

By ANGOLA NETWORK.

The hospital Cajueiros, in Cazenga district, recorded daily over thirty cases of malaria, especially in children under ten years.

The clinical director of the hospital, Amelia Hukuambua, said last week that patients, mostly are from the municipality of Cacuaco and Viana districts of Kilamba Kiaxi, Sambizanga and Rangel.

"Only in April we were consulted 40 patients a day, from Viana", exemplified in an interview to ANGOP.

According to her, this rainy season malaria cases are high due to the poor condition of drainage and standing water.

"Malaria continues to cause many deaths do not always come to the attention of health authorities, a situation which will continue in the coming rainy season, if not resolved the situation the flow of wastewater," said Amelia Hukuambua.

The clinic director said were mobilized teams and prepared internal action strategies to tackle the situation, with the few existing resources, both human and financial, to meet the number of people with the disease.

http://www.redeangola.info/hospital-...a-diariamente/

 

[Pathfinder]

Translation Google

Authorities malaria was killing 21 children on the outskirts of Luanda

The health authorities of Luanda province announced today that 21 child deaths registered in a few days in one district of Cacuaco district, outskirts of Luanda, were caused by malaria.

19:50 - 11 May 2015 | By Lusa

The deaths have given up between April 30 and May 5 in the neighborhood in Mulundo in Funda commune, affecting children between nine and 12 years after displaying high fever and abdominal pain, among other symptoms, a clinical picture that according to population, it escalates "very quickly" to death, and apparently more serious than malaria.

The authorities so far unaware of the origin of the disease and to the site, according to Lusa reported on May 8, were mobilized Angolan and Cuban doctors, to investigate the case, having advanced preventively a delousing operation and cleanliness in the area.

"It's malaria cases and we have here all the data, because it was done work with team of public health and epidemiological surveillance", he informed the director of the provincial health office of Luanda, Rosa Bessa, after a meeting with local health authorities.

Yellow fever, dengue, malaria and chikungunya were chances that the Angolan health authorities - with the support of an expert delegation from the World Health Organization in Luanda - tried to evade, by analyzing the local samples in the last days.

The official added that lives a "favorable time" for malaria, given that "it rained a lot" in Luanda in recent weeks, which made up the peak of infection in the capital

"But it is not only this situation [Funda commune] location", he emphasized the responsibility of provincial Health.

According to Rosa Bessa, only the first quarter of 2015 have registered more than 188 000 cases of malaria in Luanda, with 400 hospital deaths.

Malaria is the leading cause of death in Angola, with the authorities to appeal to the adoption of preventive measures by the population, such as the use of mosquito nets on higher risk areas.

http://www.noticiasaominuto.com/mundo/388628/foi-malaria-a-matar-21-criancas-nos-arredores-de-luanda