There are a number of viral infectious diseases reeling in Ethiopia currently. The country is plundered with several mosquito borne diseases including chikungunya, cholera, dengue fever and measles.
To dive deeper into the matter, Outbreak News Today published a report with the figures of all the diseases which are looming in African country.
Chikungunya
According to the report, the latest numbers from officials in Ethiopia says that the outbreak in the capital city Dire Dawa has grown to 51,361 cases, with no deaths, since it started in August.
Chikungunya is a mosquito-borne viral disease first described during an outbreak in southern Tanzania in 1952. According to World Health Organisation, it is an RNA virus that belongs to the alphavirus genus of the family Togaviridae.
Cholera
Cholera has taken a massive toll in the country as per the report. 11 deaths due to the disease have been reported. This is besides the other 1,708 cases reported which have, so far, not turned fatal in nature. There are active outbreaks in Oromia, Somali, SNNP, Amhara and Afar regions. A total of 54 cases have been confirmed by the laboratory.
Cholera is an extremely virulent disease that can cause severe acute watery diarrhoea with severe dehydration. It takes between 12 hours and 5 days for a person to show symptoms after ingesting contaminated food or water. Cholera affects both children and adults and can kill within hours if untreated.
Dengue fever
A dengue fever outbreak was reported in Gewane of Afar region in Ethiopia on September 16. Total cases so far are 536, as reported. Dengue fever is a painful, debilitating mosquito-borne disease caused by any one of four closely related dengue viruses. It causes a severe flu-like illness and, sometimes causes a potentially lethal complication.
The incidence of dengue has increased 30-fold over the last 50 years. Dengue fever symptoms include a fever, intense headache, body aches, joint pains, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, and skin rashes and mucosal bleeding. The disease can be fatal in nature if it’s not diagnosed and treated on time. There is no specific treatment for dengue fever, but adequate fluid intake and bed rest is important.
Measles
For the past 10 months, Ethiopia has been experiencing a measles outbreak, which began in Oromio region and later affected three additional regions: Afar, Amhara and Somali. Since the beginning of the year, a total of 8,514 suspected measles cases including 57 deaths (case fatality ratio 0.67%), were reported.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) says measles is endemic in Ethiopia with outbreaks reported annually. A quarter of the people affected during the current outbreak are 15 years and above and more than 82.6% of cases were either not vaccinated or their vaccination status was unknown.
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