Yellow fever outbreak feared in Ivory Coast
Following the diagnosis of four cases of yellow fever in Ivory Coast, who has called for an immediate vaccination programme in the country.
According to who, about 20 per cent of the population is likely to get the disease, with half of them dying, if there is a yellow fever outbreak. Ivory Coast is thus rushing to undertake a mass vaccination campaign, which will cost an estimated us $806,000. Meanwhile, this outbreak of yellow fever has worried health experts across the world, for the disease, spread by mosquitoes, has been making a comeback in Africa even though an effective vaccine has been available for 60 years.
In a separate incident, an Ethiopian marathon runner was recently put on quarantine in India, after he failed to produce the mandatory yellow fever vaccination certificate. The athlete was kept at the Yellow Fever Hospital at Delhi airport. Ethiopia is one of the countries worst affected by yellow fever. India has heightened its surveillance activities against yellow fever following chikungunya and dengue outbreaks in the country. What is worrying is that yellow fever is spread by the same Aedes aegypti mosquito that spreads dengue and chikungunya.