这世界卫生组织正在调查南苏丹的一种神秘疾病,这种疾病已经导致数十人死亡。
到目前为止,在该国北部琼莱州的方加克,已有97人死于这种未知疾病。
方格克县专员比尔·布特罗斯·比尔周四告诉美国广播公司新闻,最新的死亡发生在一名老年妇女身上。
根据南苏丹卫生部的一份声明,死亡病例大多是1至14岁的老人和儿童。
法布里斯·科菲里尼/法新社通过盖蒂图像
世界卫生组织(世卫组织)的标志被绘制在世卫组织的正面...
官员们说,这种神秘疾病的症状包括咳嗽、腹泻、发烧、头痛、胸痛、关节痛、食欲不振和身体虚弱。
比尔说,前往方加克的世卫组织小组已经离开,但没有向当地官员传达他们的发现。
世卫组织非洲发言人科林斯·博阿凯-阿杰芒在给美国广播公司新闻的一份声明中说,该机构于11月开始调查疫情,但没有提供进一步的细节。
根据英国广播公司新闻,因为该地区最近遭受了严重的洪水袭击,世卫组织对病人的样本进行了霍乱检测,霍乱通常是通过受感染的水源感染的。
然而,该出口报道称,样本返回的传染性细菌疾病呈阴性。
南苏丹朱巴大学医学院讲师希拉·巴亚(Sheila Baya)告诉BBC新闻,由于洪水泛滥,世卫组织科学家不得不乘坐直升机抵达方加克进行检测。
比尔告诉美国广播公司新闻,一些非政府组织已经向方加克运送了医疗用品,并正在建立流动诊所来帮助治疗人们。
在一个声明上个月,国际人道主义组织无国界医生组织称洪水是疾病爆发的“完美风暴”。
声明中写道:“人们没有足够的水或储水选择,也没有垃圾收集,而死去的山羊和狗则在排水系统中腐烂。“随着(难民营)新来者的涌入,情况进一步恶化,人们感染疫情和急性水样腹泻、霍乱和疟疾等水传播疾病的风险更高。”
WHO investigating mysterious illness in South Sudan that has killed nearly 100 people
TheWorld Health Organizationis investigating a mysterious illness in South Sudan that has killed dozens of people.
So far, 97 people have died of the unknown disease in Fangak, Jonglei State, in the northern part of the country.
Fangak County Commissioner Biel Boutros Biel told ABC News on Thursday that the latest fatality occurred in an elderly woman.
Deaths have mostly been reported among the elderly and children ages 1 to 14, according to a statement from South Sudan’s Ministry of Health.
The symptoms of the mysterious illness include cough, diarrhea, fever, headache, chest pain, joint pain, loss of appetite and body weakness, officials said.
Biel said the WHO team that traveled to Fangak has since left, but did not communicate their findings to local officials.
In a statement to ABC News, Collins Boakye-Agyemang, a spokesperson for WHO Africa, said the agency began investigating the outbreak in November but did not provide further details.
According toBBC News, because the area has recently been hit with heavy floods, the WHO tested samples from patients for cholera, which is typically contracted from infected water supplies.
However, the samples returned negative for the infectious bacterial disease, the outlet reported.
Sheila Baya, a lecturer in the College of Medicine at the University of Juba in South Sudan, told BBC News that WHO scientists had to reach Fangak by helicopter due to the flooding to conduct testing.
Biel told ABC News that some nongovernmental organizations have delivered medical supplies to Fangak and are in the process of setting up mobile clinics to help treat people.
In astatementlast month, international humanitarian group Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) called the floods a “perfect storm” for disease outbreaks.
"People do not have enough water or options for water storage, and there is no garbage collection, while dead goats and dogs are left rotting in the drainage systems," the statement read. "With the conditions further worsened by the influx of new arrivals [at camps], people are at higher risk of outbreaks and waterborne diseases such as acute watery diarrhea, cholera and malaria."