More than 50 killed in
Angola yellow fever outbreak: government
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[February 15, 2016]
LUANDA (Reuters) - Fifty-one people
have now died in a yellow fever outbreak in Angola, less than two months
after it started spreading in the capital, the national director of
health said.
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Health experts say the outbreak has been exacerbated by a breakdown
in sanitation services and rubbish collection in Luanda and other
cities, leading to an increase in the mosquitoes that carry the
disease.
A total of 240 people were now infected, the southern African
country's top health civil servant Adelaide de Carvalho told a forum
over the weekend. More than 450,000 people had been vaccinated in
the capital, out of a target of nearly 1.6 million, she added.
City authorities have slashed their budget for rubbish collection to
cope with a budget crisis, leaving piles of waste building up in
poorer suburbs including Viana, where the first case of yellow fever
was reported in late December.
There has also been an increase in malaria, cholera and chronic
diarrhea, health officials say.
Many sanitation contractors say they have not been paid, or are
struggling to import equipment because of foreign exchange
shortages.
Angola relies on crude exports for around 95 percent of its foreign
exchange earnings and a 70 percent decline in oil prices since
mid-2014 has hobbled Africa's third largest economy, sending the
kwanza currency plummeting.
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Yellow fever symptoms include severe headache, nausea, vomiting and
fatigue, according to the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.
(Reporting by Herculano Coroado; Writing by Stella Mapenzauswa;
Editing by James Macharia and Andrew Heavens)
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