Yellow fever outbreak kills 21 in Congo, WHO says

Twenty-one people have died of yellow fever in Congo, some of them from infections contracted in neighbouring Angola, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday.

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An outbreak has already killed 225 people and infected 1,600 in Angola. There is now a high risk of further spread in Congo, given the number of people who regularly travel between the two countries, the WHO said.

Worst outbreak in 3 decades

Just last week, the organization's director-general visited the Angolan capital of Luanda to assess the situation on the ground and called it "the most serious outbreakof yellow fever" the country has seen in 30 years.

"WHO is taking urgent action to support the government to control this outbreak with a widespread vaccination campaign," Dr.Margaret Chan said in a statement.

But a vaccine shortage is hampering efforts to keep the spread of yellow fever under control, Chan said.

By the end of March, 5.7 million people in Luanda had receivedyellow fevervaccinationsfrom the International Co-ordination Group emergency stockpile.But at least another1.5 million doses are required for that region alone, and the WHO saidthe stockpile is almost depleted.

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Yellow fever is a transmitted by mosquitos most commonly by the same species that spreadsZikavirus.

Most people infected with yellow feverexperiencefever, nausea, vomitingand fatigue. Symptoms usually improve within three to six days.

However, about 15 per cent of infected people experience a second, more severe phase of the illness,which causeshigh fever, jaundice and internal bleeding. The more severe cases of yellow feverare fatal about half of the time, the WHO says.