ISLAMABAD, 6 January (IRIN) - Various UN agencies and NGOs, together with the governments of Afghanistan and neighbouring Tajikistan, are working to contain an outbreak of whooping cough in the remote northeastern Afghan province of Badakhshan, which is threatening the lives of an estimated 40,000 infants and children.

"We are on the ground and doing our best to improve the situation," Yon Fleerackers, an epidemiologist with the World Health Organisation (WHO), told IRIN from the Afghan capital, Kabul, on Monday. An emergency team of officials from the Afghan health ministry, WHO and the Aga Khan Development Network went into Darvaz District in Badakhshan to try and tackle the outbreak. "In similar settings, we would expect a 15 percent mortality rate," he said.

WHO confirmed 17 deaths from an earlier outbreak in November. Conditions in the area were extremely difficult during the winter, and with no functional health-care system, supplies for most part had to be airlifted by helicopter, he explained.

Fleerackers added that around 151 patients had already received treatment from the emergency team on the first day of its arrival. Latest reports indicate that the disease had affected Darvaz District north of Khvahan, where the infection was confirmed in early November. About 200 children and mothers in Khvahan have been treated with erythromycin antibiotic since then.

Extra supplies of erythromycin, along with vaccines and vaccination equipment procured by the UN Children's Fund are being rushed to the affected area. This would enable Darvaz health workers to provide the population with accelerated immunisation services. The emergency team is also providing training in administering the vaccines, and will take samples for laboratory confirmation to assess the extent of the outbreak.

While making available the only access to some remote mountainous communities in Badakhshan, Tajikistan is providing the emergency assistance efforts with the key logistical support. The World Food Programme, the UN Joint Logistics Centre for Afghanistan and the UN office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) are also extending assistance by providing air and road transport for supplies and team members. The Afghan military and the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan have also been providing logistical support.

Whooping cough, also known as pertussis, is a highly communicable disease of the throat and is caused by a bacterium known as Bordetella pertussis. At its onset, the disease causes mild problems, which then tend to progress to severe coughing lasting up to 10 weeks. The disease particularly threatens infants under the age of six months. Before the worldwide introduction of the pertussis vaccine, it was of considerable public health concern in developed as well as developing countries.

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