Reasonable Rascal
02-08-03, 20:33
INFLUENZA - CONGO DR (KINSHASA)
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A ProMED-mail post
Date: Fri 7 Feb 2003
From: Pablo Nart <p.nart@virgin.net>
Source: BBC News Online, Thu 6 Feb 2003 [edited]
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/2734113.stm>
Influenza outbreak affects over a million in Congo DR
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A deadly flu epidemic has struck more than a million people and killed more than 100 in Kinshasa, according to the Democratic Republic (DR) of Congo's Health Ministry. The flu, which was first reported in the Central African Republic in September 2002, has now been registered in 4 Congolese provinces, where authorities say it has killed at least 2000 people. The head of the Epidemiology Department at the Democratic Republic of Congo's Ministry of Health says that more than a million people in Kinshasa, a city of 6 million, are suffering from [influenza]. Symptoms include fever, headaches, painful limbs, and a sore throat.
It has been confirmed this week that it is the same strain [of influenza virus] that was first reported in September 2002 in the northern Bosobolo health zone, and before then on the other side of the Oubangiu river in the Central African Republic. Refugees, rebel soldiers, and traders are believed to have brought the virus into DR Congo, where health minister Dr Mashako Mamba said it has killed more than 2000 people. The vast majority were infants and old people living in isolated and impoverished jungle communities in the northern Equateur Province, under the control of the rebel Movement for the Liberation of Congo. The war has meant clinics and hospitals there are in a woeful condition, lacking both doctors and medicines.
The Health Ministry says the epidemic has now reached not only Kinshasa but also the neighboring provinces of Bandundu and Bas Congo. Medecins sans Frontieres, which is supporting efforts in the capital to treat sufferers, says flu has also been reported this week in neighbouring Congo-Brazzaville. The Health Ministry says this is the same strain which killed more than 700 people in Madagascar last year, but believes that the worst is now over.
[byline: Mark Dummett]
--
ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>
[In the case of the widespread outbreak of influenza in Madagascar in 2002, the WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza (London, United Kingdom) reported that all isolates from that region were similar to influenza A virus A/Panama/2007/99-like (H3N2), a strain that had been in circulation worldwide for several years. The A (H3N2) component of both the 2002 southern hemisphere and 2002/2003 northern hemisphere influenza vaccines are well matched to this outbreak strain. It was considered that several factors might have contributed to the widespread morbidity and unusually high mortality reported from rural highland regions during this outbreak. In remote villages, crowded living conditions during an unusually cold and wet winter might have facilitated person to person transmission of influenza among highly susceptible populations. Malnutrition and civil unrest were considered to be contributory factors.
From the statement of the minster of health of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, it seems likely that the same strain of virus and the same factors are responsible for this outbreak, in contrast to current influenza outbreaks elsewhere in the world, which appear to be caused predominantly by influenza B virus. - Mod.CP]
*******************************
A ProMED-mail post
Date: Fri 7 Feb 2003
From: Pablo Nart <p.nart@virgin.net>
Source: BBC News Online, Thu 6 Feb 2003 [edited]
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/2734113.stm>
Influenza outbreak affects over a million in Congo DR
-----------------------------------------------------
A deadly flu epidemic has struck more than a million people and killed more than 100 in Kinshasa, according to the Democratic Republic (DR) of Congo's Health Ministry. The flu, which was first reported in the Central African Republic in September 2002, has now been registered in 4 Congolese provinces, where authorities say it has killed at least 2000 people. The head of the Epidemiology Department at the Democratic Republic of Congo's Ministry of Health says that more than a million people in Kinshasa, a city of 6 million, are suffering from [influenza]. Symptoms include fever, headaches, painful limbs, and a sore throat.
It has been confirmed this week that it is the same strain [of influenza virus] that was first reported in September 2002 in the northern Bosobolo health zone, and before then on the other side of the Oubangiu river in the Central African Republic. Refugees, rebel soldiers, and traders are believed to have brought the virus into DR Congo, where health minister Dr Mashako Mamba said it has killed more than 2000 people. The vast majority were infants and old people living in isolated and impoverished jungle communities in the northern Equateur Province, under the control of the rebel Movement for the Liberation of Congo. The war has meant clinics and hospitals there are in a woeful condition, lacking both doctors and medicines.
The Health Ministry says the epidemic has now reached not only Kinshasa but also the neighboring provinces of Bandundu and Bas Congo. Medecins sans Frontieres, which is supporting efforts in the capital to treat sufferers, says flu has also been reported this week in neighbouring Congo-Brazzaville. The Health Ministry says this is the same strain which killed more than 700 people in Madagascar last year, but believes that the worst is now over.
[byline: Mark Dummett]
--
ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>
[In the case of the widespread outbreak of influenza in Madagascar in 2002, the WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza (London, United Kingdom) reported that all isolates from that region were similar to influenza A virus A/Panama/2007/99-like (H3N2), a strain that had been in circulation worldwide for several years. The A (H3N2) component of both the 2002 southern hemisphere and 2002/2003 northern hemisphere influenza vaccines are well matched to this outbreak strain. It was considered that several factors might have contributed to the widespread morbidity and unusually high mortality reported from rural highland regions during this outbreak. In remote villages, crowded living conditions during an unusually cold and wet winter might have facilitated person to person transmission of influenza among highly susceptible populations. Malnutrition and civil unrest were considered to be contributory factors.
From the statement of the minster of health of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, it seems likely that the same strain of virus and the same factors are responsible for this outbreak, in contrast to current influenza outbreaks elsewhere in the world, which appear to be caused predominantly by influenza B virus. - Mod.CP]