Hepatitis E in Tanzania

5 December 2013 -- The previously reported unknown illness in Buhigwe District, Kigoma Region of the United Republic of Tanzania, has been confirmed to be due to Hepatitis E virus. Fifteen out of 46 samples tested at the KEMRI/CDC laboratory in Nairobi Kenya, were hepatitis E positive - nine by ELISA IgM, four by PCR and two by both ELISA and PCR. Arrangements are ongoing for genotyping and molecular characterization tests.

A total of 690 acute febrile illness cases with no deaths were reported from 20 August to 29 October 2013. Most of the patients attended to presented with headache, high fever, abdominal pain, generalized body weakness, loss of appetite and vomiting. A very small proportion of the cases had jaundice and diarrhea. The delay in detection and confirmation of the outbreak was mainly because most of the initial cases were treated as malaria, due to the similar clinical presentation. About 61% of reported cases were below 15 years (<5 years =41%; 5 -14 = 20%). The proportion of females (54%) was slightly higher than males.

Read more...

Rabies Outbreak in the Republic of Congo

29 November 2013 -- The Ministry of Health in the Republic of Congo is currently responding to an outbreak of rabies in Pointe Noire City, the economic capital city of Congo. As of 25 November 2013, eight people had died after developing clinical features of rabies following dog bites. Additional 190 other people who have been bitten by dogs in the area, are undergoing rabies prophylactic treatment.

The index human case, a 43 year male was bitten by a dog on 13 August and died on 18 September 2013 while undergoing treatment at the Pointe Noire General Hospital where he had presented with agitation, hyper-salivation, altered consciousness, and unusual behavior triggered by sight of water and blowing air. The second person bitten by the same dog died on 1 October 2013. Over 60% of the people bitten by dogs are below 15 years old.

Read more...

Outbreak Bulletin - Vol. 3 Issue 9, 22 November 2013

 Outbreak Bulletin - Vol. 3 Issue 9, 22 November 2013 (1.07 MB)

In this issue, a general overview of outbreaks that occurred within the WHO African Region between January and October 2013, as well as the ongoing outbreaks as reported by Member States is provided.

Overview of reported outbreaks in WHO African Region

Based on data received from the Event Management System (EMS)*, 59 public health events were reported to the Regional Office between January and October 2013 of which 88% (52 / 59) were due to infectious diseases; with cholera being the most frequently reported event. The dis-tribution of these events is shown in figure 1.