WHO says yellow fever claims 21 lives in DR Congo
WHO reports deaths of 21 people in DR Congo due to yellow fever outbreak as neighbouring Angola has been struggling to prevent spread of disease
The World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Tuesday that twenty-one people in the Democratic Republic of Congo have lost their lives due to yellow fever which has already killed 225 people and infected 1,600 others in neighbouring Angola.
The WHO also said that there is a risk of the further spread of the disease in the Democratic Republic of Congo due to the high number of people regularly travelling between the two countries.
Yellow fever is an acute viral disease which is transmitted by infected mosquitoes, according to the WHO.
Symptoms of the disease include severe headache, nausea, vomiting and fatigue, according to the US-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The WHO estimates that each year between 84,000 and 170,000 people contract the disease and up to 60,000 die from it.
To prevent the disease, vaccination is essential. However in Angola many sanitation contractors have been struggling to import equipment to prevent the disease because of foreign currency shortages.
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