Yellow fever's return to Ethiopia prompts vaccination campaign
The World Health Organization (WHO) today provided more details on a yellow fever outbreak in Ethiopia, which it first noted last week in a weekly report from its African regional office.
On Mar 3, the country's health officials reported the first three suspected cases in rural Gurage zone, involving a father, mother, and son in the same household. Samples from two of the three were confirmed as positive.
As of Apr 6, 85 suspected cases have been identified, and 6 tested positive and have been sent for confirmation testing. A vaccine campaign took place at the end of March in the affected area targeting 32,000 people.
The WHO said the risk to Ethiopia is high, and the current outbreak shows how rapidly a yellow fever outbreak can amplify in a rural area, especially with little population immunity. It said the Aedes mosquito species in the area can spread the virus to surrounding areas, especially with the onset of the rainy season.
The last yellow fever outbreak in the Gurage zone occurred in August 2018, with 35 cases reported. For the current outbreak, the regional threat is low because of limited travel nationally and internationally due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Apr 22 WHO statement
Apr 7 CIDRAP News scan "Yellow fever outbreak in Ethiopia sickens 85"
H5N8 avian flu hits more poultry in Hungary
Hungary reported 59 more highly pathogenic H5N8 avian flu outbreaks in poultry, part of a steady stream of similar outbreaks in it and other European countries, according to two notifications from the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE).
The outbreaks began from Apr 10 to Apr 17 and affected 53 farms in hard-hit Bacs-Kiskun County and 6 farms in Csongrad County, both in the south central part of the country.
Taken together, the virus killed 5,706 of 661,936 birds, and the rest were culled to curb the spread of the virus.
Apr 21 OIE report on 53 outbreaks
Apr 21 OIE report on 6 outbreaks
