WHO plague spread to Madagascar

Pest: WHO fears spread of the plague on Madagascar

22/11/2014

According to a WHO report, the Madagascan Ministry of Health has reported the outbreak of the plague. The first victim was "already ill end of August and died in early September". The number of victims has increased to 40 by mid-November. According to the WHO, the number of diseases was already "119 cases at this time".

It affects sixteen districts in seven regions, including the capital Antananarivo. Now, due to the high population density and the poor health system, a rapid spread of the disease in the capital is feared. The situation is exacerbated by resistance to deltamethrin, an insecticide used to control disease-transmitting flies.

Healthcare response
In response to the outbreak, the Government of Madagascar has set up a task force that, with the help of the WHO, the Pasteur Institute of Madagascar and the Red Cross, has developed a strategy to bring the outbreak under control. Thanks to a $ 200,000 grant, an aid project was launched. The WHO provides expertise and staff. In addition, measures have been taken to control and prevent the plague in the affected regions. Thus protective clothing, insecticides and antibiotics were provided.

backgrounds
The plague is a bacterial disease that mainly affects wild rodents and is transmitted by flies. People who are bitten by the flies get the pus bumps that are typical of the plague. "If the pathogen reaches the lungs of the patients, it leads to pneumonic plague, which can then be transmitted from person to person by means of droplet infection." Pulmonary plague is one of the most dangerous infectious diseases, and infection can kill within 24 hours. Mortality depends on the time of treatment, but it is high in any case.

WHO recommendations
A travel or trade restriction is currently not recommended by the WHO. She advises "but in metropolitan areas for precautionary measures". (Sb)