Tanzania has sent a team of doctors and health experts to a remote area to investigate a mysterious disease that has killed three people.
The symptoms of the disease include fever, headache, fatigue and nosebleeds, the chief medical officer of the Tanzanian government, Aifilu Sishalwe, said in a statement.
In total, 13 cases were recorded in Lindi, a region in the southeastern region of the country, of whom at least three died.
The nature of the symptoms might indicate a form of viral hemorrhagic fever, in which the walls of the victim’s tiny blood vessels become damaged, causing them to leak.
The World Health Organization has identified four viruses as “priority pathogens” that can lead to either epidemics or pandemics – Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, Lassa fever, Marburg and Ebola.
However, Sichaloy says that the test results of all infected patients were negative for two hemorrhagic viruses previously discovered in the region, namely Ebola and Marburg, in addition to negative results for “Covid-19”.
One of the patients has since recovered, while the others remain in isolation.
Tanzanian President Samia Solho Hassan suggested on Tuesday that the new disease may have emerged as a result of what she called the “increasing interaction” between people and wildlife caused by environmental degradation.
Dr. Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada, initially wondered how seriously health officials should take the outbreak.
A World Health Organization analysis warned of the growing threat of zoonotic diseases, diseases transmitted from animals to humans.
Altogether, the number of such outbreaks has increased by 63% in the past decade, compared to the previous ten years.
In 2019 and 2020, half of all public threats were from zoonoses, and 70 percent of this number was due to hemorrhagic fevers, including Ebola.
Dr Machidiso Moeti, head of the World Health Organization’s Africa office, said: “Infections that originate in animals and then move to humans have been occurring for centuries, but the risk of mass infections and deaths has been relatively low in Africa. Poor transport infrastructure serves as a natural barrier.”
However, as transport improves in Africa, there is an increasing threat of zoonotic pathogens moving to large urban centres.
“We must act now to contain zoonotic diseases before they cause the spread of infection and prevent Africa from becoming a hot spot for emerging infectious diseases,” Moeti added.
Source: Express
