DRC: Plague kills 29 in Orientale Province, infects 500, WHO says
[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]
? IRIN
KINSHASA, 3 Oct 2006 (IRIN) - Pneumonic plague has since 16 August claimed 29 lives and infected another 500 people in the Pawa and Wemba areas of Isiro District in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, according to the World Health Organization.
Dr Florent Ekwanzala, an epidemiologist with the WHO, said on Monday a WHO-backed health team comprising a supervisor, laboratory nurse and members of an international NGO had collected samples that were sent to the National Institute of Bio-Medical Research in Kinshasa to confirm the diagnosis.
Pneumonic plague is a bacterial infection that can be transmitted to humans by the bite of infected fleas, direct contact with infected patients, and inhalation or, rarely, ingestion of infective materials such as infected tissue. Infected persons usually develop flu-like symptoms after an incubation period of three to seven days. The disease is contagious and mortality rates can be high.
The WHO team has been informing the local population on how to avoid the disease by taking precautions against flea bites, avoiding the handling of carcasses in plague-endemic areas and contact with infective tissues, or being exposed to patients with pneumonic plague.
"The samples are expected to be compared with those of other lung diseases as it could also turn out to be leptospirosis," Ekwanzala said.
The symptoms of leptospirosis include high fever, severe headache, muscle pain, jaundice, haemorrhages in skin and mucus membranes (including pulmonary bleeding), vomiting and diarrhoea.
Ekwanzala said the same area recently experienced a similar epidemic on a smaller scale, which could have spread from the neighbouring region. A few cases were recorded in the Reti, Ringa and Zobia zones of the Bas-Uele District.
There were 19 deaths and 100 suspected cases in June in the neighbouring district of Ituri which, according to the WHO, is the most active breeding ground for the human strain in the world, with an average of 1,000 cases per year.
Plague is endemic in many countries in Africa, in the former Soviet Union, the Americas and Asia. In 2003, nine countries reported 2,118 cases and 182 deaths, almost all in Africa.
