Latest news with #epidemic
BBC News
2 days ago
- Health
- BBC News
Rat-borne diseases cause crisis in Sarajevo
Health experts blame a failure to control Sarajevo's rodent population for an alarming rise in the number of cases of rat-borne diseases. In just one 24 hour period this week, the country's largest hospital reported a dozen cases of leptospirosis. That follows a steady stream of other infections earlier in the month. One of the disease's nicknames, rat fever, reflects its key vector of infection. It generally spreads to humans through water or soil contaminated with rodent urine or faeces. Symptoms can range from headaches and muscle pain to bleeding on the lungs. The acute form of the illness, Weil's disease, can cause jaundice and even kidney failure. The local authorities in Sarajevo have declared an epidemic, allowing the imposition of emergency measures, including a long overdue clean-up. Extra municipal workers armed with disinfectant sprays have been deployed to carry out an urban "spring clean" in public areas across the city, while additional rubbish collections are being arranged. Schools have been directed to clean their playgrounds, mow any grass areas and check their basements for rats. The current all-action approach is a stark contrast to the laissez-faire situation of the past two years, during which there were no pest control measures in Sarajevo at all. Officials blame a botched tender process for extermination and sanitation work, which has allowed the city to go to the rats – and, for that matter, the dogs, as packs of strays are also a common sight around the capital. Sarajevo Canton Health Minister Enis Hasanovic described the situation as "not a health crisis, but a communal crisis", due to local authorities failing to fulfil essential municipal hygiene requirements. But a former director of the Sarajevo's University Clinical Centre, Sebija Izetbegović, believes the health situation could deteriorate further. Now a member of Sarajevo Canton Assembly, she points out that "well-fed rats" are currently so numerous in the city that "we can also expect hantavirus". In one respect at least, Sarajevo has been lucky. Left untreated, leptospirosis can be deadly, with a mortality rate of more than 50% for people who suffer from severe bleeding of the lungs. But so far none of the cases reported in the current epidemic have been serious.
Arab News
2 days ago
- Health
- Arab News
Cholera outbreak in Sudan capital kills 70 in 2 days: health ministry
PORT SUDAN, Sudan: A cholera outbreak in Sudan's capital has killed 70 people in two days, health officials said, as Khartoum battles a fast-spreading epidemic amid a collapse of basic services. The health ministry for Khartoum State said it had recorded 942 new infections and 25 deaths on Wednesday, following 1,177 cases and 45 deaths on Tuesday. The surge in infections comes weeks after drone strikes blamed on the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) knocked out the water and electricity supply across the capital. The army-backed government announced last week that it had dislodged RSF fighters from their last positions in Khartoum State two months after retaking the heart of the capital from the paramilitaries. Greater Khartoum had been a battleground for much of the previous two years, and suffered massive damage to housing and infrastructure. The cholera outbreak has piled further pressure on an already overwhelmed health care system. The federal health ministry reported 172 deaths in the week to Tuesday, 90 percent of them in Khartoum State. Authorities say 89 percent of patients in isolation centers are recovering, but warn that deteriorating environmental conditions are driving a surge in cases. The war between the paramilitaries and the regular army has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced 13 million in what the United Nations has described as the world's worst humanitarian crisis. Up to 90 percent of hospitals in the conflict's main battlegrounds have been forced out of service by the fighting.
Al Arabiya
2 days ago
- General
- Al Arabiya
Cholera outbreak in Sudan's capital kills 70 in 2 days: Health ministry
A cholera outbreak in Sudan's capital has killed 70 people in two days, health officials said, as Khartoum battles a fast-spreading epidemic amid a collapse of basic services. The health ministry for Khartoum State said it had recorded 942 new infections and 25 deaths on Wednesday, following 1,177 cases and 45 deaths on Tuesday. Developing
BBC News
3 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Rats thrive in Sarajevo as rising diseases cause crisis
In Sarajevo it is, once again, the Year of the media posts from residents of Bosnia and Herzegovina's capital have shown an abundance of rodents swimming in the Miljacka river which flows through the centre of the long accustomed to poor public services have also posted photos of overflowing rubbish containers and illegal dumping – along with complaints that the authorities have failed to clear away dead animals from public areas including children's all makes for a wonderful environment for rats to thrive. For humans, however, the picture is rather less rosy. Health experts blame a failure to control Sarajevo's rodent population for an alarming rise in the number of cases of rat-borne diseases. In just one 24 hour period this week, the country's largest hospital reported a dozen cases of leptospirosis. That follows a steady stream of other infections earlier in the of the disease's nicknames, rat fever, reflects its key vector of infection. It generally spreads to humans through water or soil contaminated with rodent urine or can range from headaches and muscle pain to bleeding on the lungs. The acute form of the illness, Weil's disease, can cause jaundice and even kidney local authorities in Sarajevo have declared an epidemic, allowing the imposition of emergency measures, including a long overdue municipal workers armed with disinfectant sprays have been deployed to carry out an urban "spring clean" in public areas across the city, while additional rubbish collections are being arranged. Schools have been directed to clean their playgrounds, mow any grass areas and check their basements for current all-action approach is a stark contrast to the laissez-faire situation of the past two years, during which there were no pest control measures in Sarajevo at all. Officials blame a botched tender process for extermination and sanitation work, which has allowed the city to go to the rats – and, for that matter, the dogs, as packs of strays are also a common sight around the Canton Health Minister Enis Hasanovic described the situation as "not a health crisis, but a communal crisis", due to local authorities failing to fulfil essential municipal hygiene a former director of the Sarajevo's University Clinical Centre, Sebija Izetbegović, believes the health situation could deteriorate further. Now a member of Sarajevo Canton Assembly, she points out that "well-fed rats" are currently so numerous in the city that "we can also expect hantavirus".In one respect at least, Sarajevo has been lucky. Left untreated, leptospirosis can be deadly, with a mortality rate of more than 50% for people who suffer from severe bleeding of the so far none of the cases reported in the current epidemic have been serious.
The National
4 days ago
- Health
- The National
Sudan says a cholera epidemic has killed 172
Sudan said on Tuesday that at least 172 people have died in a cholera epidemic sweeping the war-torn nation, with most new cases in the greater capital region. The Health Ministry said cholera cases have risen to 2,729 in seven days and affect people in six of Sudan's 18 states. Ninety per cent of new cases have been reported in the capital's greater region of three Nile-side cities: Khartoum, Omdurman and Bahri. Cholera, an acute diarrhoeal illness caused by ingesting contaminated water or food, can kill within hours if untreated. It is easily preventable and treatable when clean water, sanitation and timely medical care are available. The epidemic has hit Sudan at a time when the nation of 50 million is in the grip of a devastating two-year-old civil war between the armed forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Sudan's healthcare sector has been hit hard by the war in the capital's three cities, which were held by the RSF until March when the army took them back after fierce fighting over several months. Besides crippling Sudan's infrastructure, including healthcare facilities, the war has killed tens of thousands, displaced about 13 million and left about 26 million people facing acute hunger, with pockets of famine surfacing across much of the vast and impoverished nation. Last Tuesday, the ministry said 51 people had died of cholera out of more than 2,300 reported cases over the previous three weeks, 90 per cent of them in Khartoum state. Drone attack The latest death toll from cholera also coincided with reports that an RSF drone had hit a fuel depot in the southern city of Kosti in White Nile state. Tuesday's attack was the latest in a string of devastating hits by RSF drones on strategic facilities in Port Sudan, the army's wartime capital on the Red Sea. Those hit included major fuel depots, the international airport, military bases and power transformers. Eyewitnesses in Kosti reported hearing explosions and seeing columns of thick smoke rise over the city soon after the drone hit. Earlier this month, the RSF launched drone strikes across Khartoum, including three power stations, triggering a massive blackout that disrupted electricity and water services and arguably contributed to the cholera outbreak. Cholera is endemic in Sudan, but outbreaks have become worse and more frequent since the war broke out in April 2023, when months of tension and political wrangling between the army and the RSF turned violent. With electricity supply and subsequently the local water network out of service, residents have been forced to turn to unsafe water sources, according to Doctors Without Borders (MSF). "Water treatment stations no longer have electricity and cannot provide clean water from the Nile," Slaymen Ammar, MSF's medical co-ordinator in Khartoum, said in a statement. In Omdurman, residents say they have had no power for nearly two weeks. "We now fetch water directly from the Nile, buying it from donkey carts that bring it in barrels," resident Bashir Mohammed said. According to a doctor at Omdurman's Al Nao Hospital, the capital's main functioning health facility, residents have resorted to "drinking untreated Nile water, after the shutdown of water pumping stations." Up to 90 per cent of Sudan's hospitals have at some point been forced to close because of the fighting, according to the doctors' union, with health facilities regularly stormed, bombed and looted.
