Yellow fever outbreaks in Africa require action, vaccination - WHO

Record ID: 102963

  • Title: Yellow fever outbreaks in Africa require action, vaccination - WHO
  • Date: 19th May 2016
  • Summary: GENEVA, SWITZERLAND (MAY 19, 2016) (REUTERS) WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (WHO) BUILDING NEWS BRIEFING IN PROGRESS NIGERIAN CHAIR OF THE WHO EMERGENCY COMMITTEE IN YELLOW FEVER, PROFESSOR OYEWALE TOMORI, (RIGHT) AND WHO EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF OUTBREAKS AND HEALTH EMERGENCIES, BRUCE AYLWARD, DURING NEWS BRIEFING (SOUNDBITE) (English) NIGERIAN CHAIR OF THE WHO EMERGENCY COMMITTEE IN YELLOW FEVER, PROFESSOR OYEWALE TOMORI, SAYING: "The Committee, having concluded that, yes, this is not, at this particular time, is not a public health event of international concern, but it is serious enough to give certain advices to countries, from the director-general for countries to implement. The issues would then look at the fact that there is need to intensify surveillance in the different countries, to look at the issue of mass vaccination." WHO STAFF (SOUNDBITE) (English) WHO EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF OUTBREAKS AND HEALTH EMERGENCIES, BRUCE AYLWARD, SAYING: "With 2,400 cases, or suspect cases, in just 4 months, and with the striking...and with the high mortality rate, with 300 people dead, reinforced just the potentially explosive nature of this disease and the risk internationally." JOURNALISTS TAKING NOTES (SOUNDBITE) (English) WHO EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF OUTBREAKS AND HEALTH EMERGENCIES, BRUCE AYLWARD, SAYING: "The expectation is: the current situation could be handled with the existing vaccine; the challenge will be of course if there are other urban outbreaks in large areas, if these prove to be explosive because of inability to rapidly detect or vaccinate. That is when we could potentially end up in a situation of needing to look at dose-sparing strategies." WHO'S BUILDING'S ENTRANCE WHO LOGO
  • Embargoed: 3rd June 2016 20:42
  • Keywords: Yellow fever WHO Angola Democratic Republic of Congo vaccination
  • Location: GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
  • City: GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
  • Country: Switzerland
  • Topics: Health/Medicine
  • Reuters ID: LVA0014IH7P6V
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Outbreaks of deadly yellow fever in Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo do not constitute a global health emergency but require stepped-up control measures and mass vaccination, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Thursday (May 19).
    The disease has a high fatality rate and has already spread to Kenya and China and there is an unrelated outbreak in Uganda, generating fears of the mosquito-borne disease jumping to sprawling cities in Asia and Africa.
    The more than 2,400 suspect cases and 300 deaths in just four months in Angola "reinforced the potentially explosive nature of this disease and the risk internationally", Dr. Bruce Aylward, WHO executive director of outbreaks and health emergencies, said.
    A panel of eight independent experts, led by Nigerian Professor Oyewale Tomori, said that urban yellow fever poses "serious national and international risks" but stopped short of declaring it a global emergency like the Zika virus or polio.
    Angola and Congo must step up surveillance to detect the virus and carry out mass immunisation, the committee said.
    Luanda, Angola's capital where the outbreak began in December, is now reporting 90 percent coverage with the one lifetime dose of the vaccine, Aylward said.
    The global stockpile of yellow fever vaccine should reach 7 million doses by the end of May and up to 17 million in late August, enough to combat current outbreaks but not if the virus spreads and causes "potentially explosive" outbreaks in other urban areas, Aylward said.
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