The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned again that the yellow fever outbreak in Angola is "serious and of great concern", and while not yet constituting a public health emergency, control measures need to be stepped up and mass vaccination is required. In an update on its latest situation report, published today, WHO said it was "alarmed" by reports from Angola, where more than half of all cases were reported as pneumonic - meaning they are caused Over 2,400 people have so far been infected since December and 300 people have died, WHO says "this is a devastating disease with a high mortality rate and rapid spread. " It is already the worst outbreak of the fever in the southern African country in three decades.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned again that the yellow fever outbreak in Angola is "serious and of great concern", and while not yet constituting a public health emergency, control measures need to be stepped up and mass vaccination is required. However, as we have been noting, at present the world is ill-prepared to fight two mosquito-borne epidemics at once, as the outbreak has already consumed the WHO's emergency stockpile of yellow fever vaccine and the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention says it cannot give the country as much help as normal because most of its experts are absorbed in fighting the Zika virus. Over 2,400 people have so far been infected since December and 300 people have died, WHO says "this is a devastating disease with a high mortality rate and rapid spread." It is already the worst outbreak of the fever in the southern African country in three decades.