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Plague, pneumonic - Congo

Mingus

Mingus

Well-known member
Plague, pneumonic - Congo

Archive Number 20060614.1650
Published Date 14-JUN-2006
Subject PRO/AH/EDR> Plague, pneumonic - Congo DR (Ituri)

PLAGUE, PNEUMONIC - CONGO DR (ITURI)
***************************************
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: Wed 14 Jun 2006
From: Marianne Hopp <mjhopp12@yahoo.com>
Source: WHO Outbreak Reports [edited]
<http://www.who.int/csr/don/2006_06_14/en/index.html>


As of 13 Jun 2006, WHO has received reports of 100 deaths of
suspected pneumonic plague, including 19 deaths in Ituri district,
Oriental province. Suspected cases of bubonic plague have also been
reported, but the total number is not known at this time. Preliminary
results from rapid diagnostic tests in the area confirm pneumonic
plague. Additional laboratory analysis, including tests by culture,
is ongoing on 18 samples.

Ituri is known to be the most active focus of human plague worldwide,
reporting around 1000 cases a year. The 1st cases in this outbreak
occurred in a rural area, in the Zone de Sante of Linga, in mid-May 2006.

A team from Medecins sans Frontieres (Switzerland), WHO and Ministry
of Health has been in the area to assess the situation and provide
support to the local health authorities. Isolation wards have been
established to treat patients; close contacts are being traced and
receiving chemoprophylaxis. However, control measures have been
difficult to implement because of security concerns in the area.

For more information, see the fact sheet on plague at
<http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs267/en/>.

--
ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>

[Primary pneumonic plague (one percent of natural plague
presentations) arises as a result of inhalation of plague bacilli in
infectious aerosols, such as would be produced when there are
secondary pneumonic complications in bubonic/septicemic plague.

Primary plague pneumonia has a short incubation period of 1-3 days,
after which there is sudden onset of flu-like symptoms including
fever, chills, headache, generalized body pains, weakness and chest
discomfort. A cough develops with sputum production, which may be
bloody, and increasing chest pain and difficulty in breathing. As the
disease progresses, hypoxia (low oxygen concentration in the blood)
and hemoptysis (coughing up blood) are prominent. The disease is
invariably fatal unless antimicrobial therapy commences within 24
hours of exposure.

Patients with primary pneumonic plague generate large quantities of
infectious aerosols that pose a significant risk to close contacts.
CDC guidelines identify contacts within 2 meters as being at greatest
risk and do not consider the organism likely to be carried through
air ducts or vents. Persons who have been in contact with pneumonic
plague patients or handling potentially infectious body fluids or
tissues without appropriate protection should receive preventive
antimicrobial therapy. The preferred antimicrobial agents for
prophylaxis are tetracyclines, quinolones, or chloramphenicol.

A map of Congo DR showing Oriental province, where Ituri is located,
can be found at:
congo_demrep_pol98.jpg
. - Mod.LL]

[Of note, this is the same general area where there was a major
outbreak of pneumonic and bubonic plague in 2005 (see prior
ProMED-mail postings listed below. - Mod.MPP]

[see also:
2005
----
Undiagnosed deaths - Congo DR (Maniema) (08): pneumonic plague susp
20050905.2625
Undiagnosed deaths - Congo DR (Maniema): hem fever susp, RFI 20050805.2274
Plague, pneumonic - Congo DR (07): (North East) 20050315.0754
Plague, pneumonic - Congo DR (Ituri) 20050218.0537
2004
----
Plague, fatal - China (Qinghai) 20041101.2948
Plague - Congo DR (Ituri): susp. 20040730.2083
Plague, fatal - Ecuador (Chimborazo) (02) 20040513.1288
Plague, fatal - Ecuador: RFI 20040510.1264
Plague - Uganda (Arua, Nebbi) 20040112.0128
2003
 
Re: Plague, pneumonic - Congo

MSF fears spread of DRC plague outbreak

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200606/s1669806.htm

By Africa correspondent Zoe Daniel


Aid agency Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF) is warning an outbreak of pneumonic plague in the Democratic Republic of Congo could get out of control if more help does not arrive.


MSF is the only charity working on the crisis in the Ituri district, where 22 people have died and 144 have been infected with pneumonic plague since early June.


MSF has set up two isolation centres in the area.


The agency is concerned that other aid agencies have not stepped in to identify and restrict the spread of the airborne disease.


The outbreak has spread to new areas in the last few days and doctors fear that it could get out of control.


They say sick people and those who have had contact with them must be identified and isolated immediately.

​
 
Re: Plague, pneumonic - Congo

Insecurity fans spread of pneumonic plague in Congo - 22 dead


<!--docTitle--><!--Attention ligne utilis?e pour l'impression--> <!--Attention ligne utilis?e pour l'impression-->Nairobi_(dpa) _ Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) urged its international partners to help contain an outbreak of the highly contagious pneumonic plague in north-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo that has already killed 22 people, but where insecurity is fanning the spread of the disease.
"We urgently need all actors present in the field who have the capacity to conduct active searches for suspected cases and identification of individuals in contact with suspected cases to mobilize resources," said Jerome Souquet, MSF Head in Ituri district.
"Otherwise, we risk being confronted with an outbreak spiralling out of control. We have already seen the epidemic outbreak spreading to new areas in the last few days," Souquet said.
Continuing insecurity in the central African country's volatile north-eastern regions makes it difficult for health-workers to trace infected locals, many of whom are scattered around the thickly forested region, in attempts to avoid armed groups that roam the area.
Souquet said that while the World Health Organization (WHO) was instrumental in issuing an alert for the latest outbreak in early June, he urged the UN body and local health authorities to scale up activities.
Repeated efforts to get comment from WHO proved unsuccessful.
MSF is currently treating 144 patients and have deployed medical teams to set up isolation centres in two new districts in a bid to cope with the increasing number of new cases.
The charity fears that if there is no rapid containment of the outbreak, it risks spreading to five areas in the Rethy district, inaccessible due to insecurity. Some 100,000 people live in the outbreak area.
"An extension of the outbreak to areas where access is rendered difficult could have alarming consequences on the health situation," Souquet added.
Pneumonic plague is endemic to the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo where sporadic outbreaks are known to occur.
Patients have a good chance of recovery if treated rapidly with antibiotics, but this highly virulent respiratory disease can lead to high fatalities if left untreated.

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/KKEE-6QZRT6?OpenDocument
 
Re: Plague, pneumonic - Congo

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=+1] Caritas Internationalis calls for aid in Congo chaos

http://www.cathnews.com/news/606/127.php

[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] Caritas Internationalis has launched a new emergency aid appeal for people displaced by the world's largest ongoing conflict between militias and government forces in the Ituri district of Congo.

Caritas reports that since 1999, the Ituri district, along the country's northeastern border with Uganda, has been subject to continuous outbreaks of violence, among rival ethnic militia groups whose allegiances are always changing, and between these groups and the government's armed forces.

Most recently, various militias have remoulded themselves into the Revolutionary Movement of the Congo, whose main objective seems to be to derail any attempt to bring the area back under state control.

The country's first democratic elections are scheduled for 30 July.

"There are people in the Congo who prefer to keep the country in chaos for their own benefit, but they must not be allowed to destroy what the Congolese people have been working for," said Pierre Cibambo, desk officer for the Africa region at Caritas Internationalis.

Caritas says that despite the signing of a peace agreement in 2002, the violence in the east has continued largely unabated, as militias compete for the region's vast mineral wealth.

Caritas Congo and specifically Caritas of the Bunia diocese report that during the recent clashes that have been taking place since January, both militias and government forces have been living off the civilian population to survive, taking their food, burning down villages and committing acts of sexual violence and rape.

The local Caritas in Bunia also says that water supplies are coming under tremendous strain, and there has been increasing sickness, with few medicines available to treat the ill.

Caritas D?veloppement Bunia will manage a project targeting more than 100,000 of the most isolated and vulnerable victims. It will provide them with clothing, blankets, and tarpaulins to be used in building shelter, soap, kitchen sets and water containers. The program is meant to hold them over for a period of three months.

Caritas Internationalis aims to raise AU$675,000 (US$500,000) from this appeal.
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