Four people have died in Kenya from yellow fever, a serious viral illness that has recently been detected in the country for the first time in decades, the health minister announced on Monday. The cases have been recorded in the rural county of Isiolo, about 270 km north of the capital Nairobi.
No specific treatment
“We have one more death than the three we had previously reported,” said Patrick Amoth, director general of the Ministry of Health. There is no specific treatment for yellow fever, a haemorrhagic disease transmitted by infected mosquitoes and found in parts of Africa and Latin America. It is transmitted by the same mosquitoes carrying Zika or dengue viruses.
Kenya, which has not experienced an outbreak of yellow fever since the 1990s, detected its first case in decades on January 12. Until last week, 15 patients with symptoms of fever, jaundice and body aches were placed in solitary confinement. A quarter of Kenya – which continues to face the Covid-19 pandemic as well as a massive drought in the north, including Isiolo – is considered to be at high risk for the spread of yellow fever, explained Patrick Amoth . Vaccination against yellow fever is required for travelers taking safaris in the country.