According to the WHO, at least 62 infected people have died since the outbreak of the epidemic in July in the Upper Guinea region (East). This highly contagious disease, mainly affects early childhood, attacks the respiratory tract and causes death by asphyxiation.
2 mins
The Ministry of Health has alerted the World Health Organization (WHO) last September, on the diphtheria outbreak in the Kankan region, the epicenter being in the gold mining town of Siguiri, near the Malian border. When the disease appeared four months ago, mortality stood at 36%. This rate was divided by three after the treatment protocol put in place with the National Health Security Authority of Guinea and the NGO Doctors Without Borders (MSF).
According to the health organization of the‘UNthe spread of the diphtheria epidemic comes from low vaccination coverage which concerns less than half of the territory since 2014. The cause is vaccines out of stock, non-compliance with the cold chain and the significant lack of health personnel.
“ Classes opened, and the children who were on vacation from one region to another began to mix. So they had plenty of time to transmit the disease during the infectious period at the school levelexplains Dr Seydou Dia, WHO emergency manager in Guinea. We have admissions at the level of three to four cases per day, here we are at almost ten cases per day, and today MSF is wondering if we can have containers to transform their offices into places of hospitalization. So this is a situation that is developing unfavorably. »
The WHO states that several countries in the sub-region are affected by the diphtheria epidemic. A possible consequence of the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, which had been prioritized to the detriment of other diseases.