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In Côte d’Ivoire, a “mysterious disease” has already claimed around twenty victims, the vast majority of them children. Each time, the same symptoms appeared. Other patients, suffering in the same way, would have been admitted to the hospital.
According to information gathered by AFP from local sources, 18 children aged 1 to 8 died. All came from a small village located 7 km from the city of Bouaké, called Kpo-Kahankro.
Nearly twenty dead and thirty sick
“We recorded six deaths in December 2022, three on Friday January 20, and three more this Thursday, bringing the total death toll to twelve.“indicated a few days ago Paul Kouassi, the president of an association present in the village. According to this witness, the victims were all between the ages of one and eight years old and suddenly began to stiffen up and vomit.
Since then, the toll has unfortunately increased, with now 18 children and two adults, women, who have died from this mysterious disease. Paul Kouassi indicates that the deceased adults were women aged between 60 and 70, both of whom died in a hospital in Bouaké “after showing the same symptoms as the first deaths, namely vomiting and diarrhea“. The same symptoms have struck 33 other inhabitants of the locality, and are currently hospitalized at the Bouaké University Hospital.
The authorities want to be reassuring
The Minister of Health, Paul Dimba, visited the site on Tuesday 31 January. For him, the situation was “now under control“, although the National Institute of Public Hygiene (INPH) has not yet issued its conclusions.
Specialists in infectiology, epidemiology, and medical teams are also trying to define the origin of this epidemic. Several avenues are being considered, but no certainty emerges for the moment. The Ministry of Health must speak on this subject next Wednesday.