Massive vaccination campaign expected to get under way today as charity warns that the largest epidemic of disease to hit central Africa in 30 years may go global
A deadly virus sweeping across parts of Africa in the largest epidemic for decades could soon spread to Europe and the rest of the world, a charity has warned.
Save the Children says yellow fever has claimed nearly 500 lives, with thousands of suspected cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Angola.
The World Health Organisation has warned the figures could rise to 10 to 50 times higher as the largest outbreak to hit the region for 30 years sees global emergency vaccine stocks emptied.
A campaign, supported by the charity, to vaccinate the Congolese capital of Kinshasa begins today, in a bid to stop the virus spreading through the city’s population of more than 10 million.
We can only hope this will be enough to stop the epidemic spreading any further
Heather Kerr, Save the Children’s country director for the DRC, said: “There is no known cure for yellow fever and it could go global.
“The mass vaccination campaign in Kinshasa needs to take place now so that we can try and stop yellow fever spreading by land and air to more cities in Africa and across the world.”
There are just seven million emergency vaccines available for the mass inoculation, which Save the Children says is too few to cover the city, let alone the whole DRC.
The charity’s Emergency Health Unit will be deployed to support the DRC’s Ministry of Health as it targets around half a million people over 10 days. To reach as many as possible with the limited supplies, the campaign will use a fifth of a regular vaccine dose, which provides stop-gap immunity for about a year instead of lifelong protection.
“We’ve got to urgently reach as many children and families as we can with the supplies that are left, and this is the only way we are able to do that right now,” Ms Kerr added.
“We can only hope this will be enough to stop the epidemic spreading any further.”
Yellow fever is a virus which causes bleeding from the ears, eyes and nose, organ failure and jaundice in the final stages of infection.
The virus is spread by mosquitoes, with rapid transmission in hot and humid environments. In this outbreak, Save the Children says around 20 per cent of those who have caught it have died.
Key facts
• Yellow fever is an acute viral haemorrhagic disease transmitted by infected mosquitoes. The “yellow” in the name refers to the jaundice that affects some patients.
• Symptoms of yellow fever include fever, headache, jaundice, muscle pain, nausea, vomiting and fatigue.
• A small proportion of patients who contract the virus develop severe symptoms and approximately half of those die within seven to 10 days.
• The virus is endemic in tropical areas of Africa and Central and South America.
• Since the launch of the Yellow Fever Initiative in 2006, significant progress in combating the disease has been made in West Africa and more than 105 million people have been vaccinated in mass campaigns. No outbreaks of yellow fever were reported in West Africa during 2015.
• Large epidemics of yellow fever occur when infected people introduce the virus into heavily populated areas with high mosquito density and where most people have little or no immunity, due to lack of vaccination. In these conditions, infected mosquitoes transmit the virus from person to person.
• Yellow fever is prevented by an extremely effective vaccine, which is safe and affordable.
A single dose of vaccine is sufficient to confer sustained immunity and life-long protection against yellow fever and a booster dose of the vaccine is not needed. The vaccine provides effective immunity within 30 days for 99 per cent of those who are vaccinated.
• Good supportive treatment in hospitals improves survival rates. There is currently no specific anti-viral drug for yellow fever.