Madagascar faces a bubonic plague epidemic
unless it slows the spread of the disease, experts
have warned.
The Red Cross and Pasteur Institute say inmates in the
island's dirty, crowded jails are particularly at risk.
The number of cases rises each October as hot humid
weather attracts fleas, which transmit the disease from
rats and other animals to humans.
Madagascar had 256 plague cases and 60 deaths last
year, the world's highest recorded number.
Bubonic plague, known as the Black Death when it
killed an estimated 25 million people in Europe during
the Middle Ages, is now rare.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in
Geneva and the Pasteur Institute have worked with
local health groups in Madagascar since February 2012
on a campaign to improve prison hygiene.
"If the plague gets into prisons there could be a sort of
atomic explosion of plague within the town. The prison
walls will never prevent the plague from getting out
and invading the rest of the town," said the institute's
Christophe Rogier.
The ICRC said the 3,000 inmates of Antanimora, the
main prison in the heart of the capital Antananarivo,
live with a huge rat population which spreads infected
fleas through food supplies, bedding and clothing.
The ICRC's Evaristo Oliviera said this could affect not
only inmates and staff, but others they come into
contact with.
"A prison is not a sealed place, first of all the staff
themselves who work in the prison are at risk, and they
go home at the end of the day, already perhaps being a
vector of the disease," he told the BBC.
"Also the rats themselves, they can go in and out of the
jail and also propagate the disease.
"And the prisoners do have visitors who can be also
infected, and the prisoners eventually go out as well so
we have many many ins and outs for the disease to
spread."
Madagascar's prisons are overcrowded and dirty, the
ICRC says
The BBC's Imogen Foulkes in Geneva says the
eradication project undertaken by the ICRC is tricky
because simply killing the rats is not enough.
To prevent their infected fleas transferring to another
host, possibly a human, the insects must be destroyed
as well as the rodents, she says.
Mr Oliviera said the disease could be treated with
antibiotics if detected early, but a lack of facilities and
traditional shame over the disease made this tricky in
outlying parts of Madagascar.
Experts say that Africa - especially Madagascar and the
Democratic Republic of Congo - accounts for more
than 90% of cases worldwide.
However in August a 15-year-old herder died in
Kyrgyzstan of bubonic plague - the first case in the
country in 30 years - officials said
During the last 20 years, at least three countries
experienced outbreaks of human plague after dormant
periods of about 30-50 years, experts say.
These areas were India in 1994 and 2002, Indonesia in
1997 and Algeria in 2003.
According to the World Health Organization , the
last significant outbreak of bubonic plague was in Peru
in 2010 when 12 people were found to have been
infected.
unless it slows the spread of the disease, experts
have warned.
The Red Cross and Pasteur Institute say inmates in the
island's dirty, crowded jails are particularly at risk.
The number of cases rises each October as hot humid
weather attracts fleas, which transmit the disease from
rats and other animals to humans.
Madagascar had 256 plague cases and 60 deaths last
year, the world's highest recorded number.
Bubonic plague, known as the Black Death when it
killed an estimated 25 million people in Europe during
the Middle Ages, is now rare.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in
Geneva and the Pasteur Institute have worked with
local health groups in Madagascar since February 2012
on a campaign to improve prison hygiene.
"If the plague gets into prisons there could be a sort of
atomic explosion of plague within the town. The prison
walls will never prevent the plague from getting out
and invading the rest of the town," said the institute's
Christophe Rogier.
The ICRC said the 3,000 inmates of Antanimora, the
main prison in the heart of the capital Antananarivo,
live with a huge rat population which spreads infected
fleas through food supplies, bedding and clothing.
The ICRC's Evaristo Oliviera said this could affect not
only inmates and staff, but others they come into
contact with.
"A prison is not a sealed place, first of all the staff
themselves who work in the prison are at risk, and they
go home at the end of the day, already perhaps being a
vector of the disease," he told the BBC.
"Also the rats themselves, they can go in and out of the
jail and also propagate the disease.
"And the prisoners do have visitors who can be also
infected, and the prisoners eventually go out as well so
we have many many ins and outs for the disease to
spread."
Madagascar's prisons are overcrowded and dirty, the
ICRC says
The BBC's Imogen Foulkes in Geneva says the
eradication project undertaken by the ICRC is tricky
because simply killing the rats is not enough.
To prevent their infected fleas transferring to another
host, possibly a human, the insects must be destroyed
as well as the rodents, she says.
Mr Oliviera said the disease could be treated with
antibiotics if detected early, but a lack of facilities and
traditional shame over the disease made this tricky in
outlying parts of Madagascar.
Experts say that Africa - especially Madagascar and the
Democratic Republic of Congo - accounts for more
than 90% of cases worldwide.
However in August a 15-year-old herder died in
Kyrgyzstan of bubonic plague - the first case in the
country in 30 years - officials said
During the last 20 years, at least three countries
experienced outbreaks of human plague after dormant
periods of about 30-50 years, experts say.
These areas were India in 1994 and 2002, Indonesia in
1997 and Algeria in 2003.
According to the World Health Organization , the
last significant outbreak of bubonic plague was in Peru
in 2010 when 12 people were found to have been
infected.
Comments
Post a Comment