Source:
UN OCHA Integrated Regional Information Network
Date: 6 Jan 2003
Afghanistan: Effort to contain
whooping-cough outbreak
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.
[ENDS]
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2003
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