Yellow fever vaccines arrive in Sudan, vaccination campaign to commence this week
The yellow fever vaccine campaign that was originally said to begin the first week of December will begin at least a week earlier than previously thought, according to a World Health Organization (WHO)- Sudan update Nov. 18.
According to the UN agency, Sudan’s Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH) has received the initial 800,000 doses of yellow fever vaccine on Friday, 16 November 2012, from the International Coordinating Group on Vaccine (ICG) to conduct an emergency response vaccination campaign in Darfur.
The remaining doses to fulfill the obligatory 2.4 million doses arrived in the African nation Sunday.
The 10-day vaccination campaign will start on 24 November targeting 2.4 million population in 12 localities in South, North, Central and West Darfur, according to the WHO.
The viral mosquito borne disease outbreak has now been reported from 26 localities in Central, South, West, North, and East Darfur.
As of 17 November, the total number of cases has reached 459, including 116 deaths. This is up from 358 suspected cases and 107 fatalities reported four days prior.
The case fatality for this outbreak hovers around 25 percent.
According to the WHO, yellow fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic disease transmitted by infected mosquitoes. The “yellow” in the name refers to the jaundice that affects some patients. The yellow fever virus is an arbovirus of the flavivirus genus, and the mosquito is the primary vector. It carries the virus from one host to another, primarily between monkeys, from monkeys to humans, and from person-to-person.
Once contracted, the virus incubates in the body for 3 to 6 days, followed by infection that can occur in one or two phases. The first acute phase usually causes fever, muscle pain with prominent backache, headache, shivers, loss of appetite, and nausea or vomiting. Most patients improve and their symptoms disappear after 3 to 4 days.
There is no specific treatment for the viral illness but it can be contained using bed nets, insect repellents and long clothing.
Prevention of this viral disease is through vaccination.
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[…] Greater Darfur region is not only in the middle of a serious yellow fever outbreak, but this area of Sudan also face an epidemic of the blinding bacterial disease, trachoma, […]