A deadly epidemic on the border between Uganda and Congo

The World Health Organization (WHO) announced Monday that a deadly epidemic has spread to the border between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo and that several people have died.

The organization praised health workers in Uganda for their vigilance and their swift intervention in case of suspicion of epidemic pulmonary plague, which, according to the organization, "usually results in death unless she is screened and treated with antibiotics at the beginning. "

The World Health Organization (WHO) said in a report that the Ugandan Ministry of Health had reported on March 5 two suspected cases of infection in the Zombo region, after the death of the family. a 35-year-old woman and a 23-year-old parent of the same symptoms.

Further investigations revealed that the deceased lived in the village of Atungoli in the Ituri district of Congo and that her 4 year old son had died a few days earlier. When her relatives found her sick on the day of her son's burial, they took her to Uganda for treatment.

The symptoms complained of by his relative raised doubts as to the spread of the plague and resulted from a preliminary analysis of the positive disease.

The authorities estimated that 55 people, including 11 health workers and others involved in the funeral of women, presented a serious risk of transmission and follow-up.

The WHO said three other people have died of the same symptoms in Congo and that local authorities are investigating.

Pneumonia is endemic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Madagascar and Peru, and Congolese authorities are already facing a major epidemic of Ebola, FAO said.

Plasmodium larvae, usually found in small mammals and fleas, cause pneumonia. People get sick from flea bites, a dangerous mixture of body fluids, polluted substances or inhalation of an aerosol from a person with lung plague.