LUANDA (Reuters) - A yellow fever outbreak in Angola has killed 37 people since December with eight new cases reported in the last 24 hours, the country's national director of health Adelaide de Carvalho said late on Wednesday.
The outbreak of yellow fever, which is transmitted by mosquito bites, began in the Luanda suburb of Viana but has spread to other areas of the southern African country with 191 people infected so far.
De Carvalho said health officials were monitoring suburbs around the capital of Luanda where infections have been worsened by unsanitary conditions caused by a garbage collection backlog.
"Actions should be developed for the improvement of public sanitary and garbage collection," de Carvalho said.
Symptoms of yellow fever include sudden fever, severe headache, nausea, vomiting and fatigue, according to the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.
(Reporting by Herculano Coroado; Writing by Mfuneko Toyana)
The Chinese government is to give a financial assistance of USD 500,000 to Angola for this African country to purchase yellow fever vaccines, aimed to fight the recent outbreak in the country.
A note from the Chinese Embassy in Angola, which reached ANGOP on Monday, states that the donation happens in response to a request from the Angolan authorities that intend to put an end to the yellow fever outbreak, which has already claimed several lives.
Last week, 38 cases of yellow fever were recorded in Luanda, ten of which ended in death.
The investigations on the disease began on 30 December, 2015, after the appearance of six cases, four of which ended in death.
Most of the cases were recorded in Viana Municipality, in Luanda, reason why the Angolan authorities launched last week a campaign against this disease, which includes sensitisation activities with the citizens aimed at reinforcing preventive measures.
Yellow Fever is a disease transmitted to humans by the Aedes Aegypti mosquito.
In Angola, before the current outbreak, the last cases were recorded in 1988.
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