Luanda (News Of The South) – The current yellow fever epidemic in Angola has claimed 125 people of of 664 suspected cases since December 30.
The Angolan government is making efforts to quell the epidemic.
Of the dead, 92 are from Luanda where the centre of the health crisis is situated.
Yellow fever is a viral haemorrhagic disease which has no specific treatment and is transmitted by infected mosquitoes and found in tropical regions of Africa and Latin America`s Amazon region.
A massive vaccination campaign has been launched in Angola in the month of February and government has strongly urged people to sterilise stagnant water before drinking it..
Yellow fever vaccinations are routinely recommended for travellers to Angola, though the country had not previously seen a significant outbreak since 1986.
Statistics from World Health Organization show there are an estimated 130,000 cases of yellow fever reported yearly, causing 44,000 deaths worldwide each year, with 90 percent occurring in Africa.
Yellow fever is historically known as yellow jack or bronze John.
Symptoms of the disease include fever, loss of appetite, nausea, muscle pains especially in the back, headaches and chills.
Within 5 days the symptoms are expected to improve but in some cases where symptoms improve in one day the fever returns and causes abdominal pains and damage to the liver and causes yellow skin . When this happens there is a high risk of bleeding and problems with the kidneys increase.
There is a safe and effective vaccine against yellow fever and some countries require travellers to have vaccinations.
Yellow fever can also be reduced by a reduction in the population of the transmitting mosquitoe
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