Ituri province
Via mediacongo.net: mediacongo.net - News - Return of the plague in Ituri, with more than 500 cases and 31 deaths. Excerpt:
More than 500 cases of plague have been detected in a region of the northeast of the Democratic Republic of the Congo for several months, killing around thirty people, AFP learned this Friday, February 19, 2021 from health authorities and experts. .
Currently, we have "more than 520 cases of plague" including "more than 31 deaths," said Dr Patrick Karamura, provincial minister of health of Ituri, a plague endemic region.
In this "resurgence" of cases, "there are not only cases of bubonic plague. We also have five cases of pulmonary plague, two other cases of septicaemic plague," he said.
Cases appeared between November 15 and December 13 in the health zone of Biringi, located in the territory of Aru in Ituri, explained Dr Anne Laudisoit, epidemiologist at Ecohealth Alliance, an NGO based in New York, which stays in the area with a team of researchers.
The average age of those affected is 13, she adds. However, there are big differences: "the youngest person is 3 months old and the oldest, 73 years old", explained the specialist.
According to Dr Anne Laudisoit, at the time of the first cases, "there was a massive rat death, which is really indicative of the plague". The rats die, the fleas on them look for another animal to feed on and the closest animal is humans, she explained.
"An upsurge in plague cases has been observed since June 2020 in the health zone of Rethy, in the province of Ituri," warned the World Health Organization (WHO) on July 20.
Ituri is the only area in the DRC where the plague is endemic. The disease was confirmed there as early as 1926.
From Lake Albert to the Aru region bordering southern Sudan, it is "an area where the plague resurfaces frequently and unpredictably", according to Dr Laudisoit.
