| The
World Health Organization (WHO) today announced a massive
vaccination campaign against yellow fever in Liberia, where
29 cases have recently been reported.
With
an estimated 1.5 million people in Monrovia at risk if
the disease is not contained, WHO plans to intensify vaccination
and surveillance in the affected communities, immunizing
some 150,000 people.
Liberia's
last vaccination campaign against yellow fever was conducted
in 1999, but it was limited to a single refugee camp,
and most of those who benefited have left the area. The
country conducted a nation-wide campaign in 1995, "but
coverage at that time was poor, as the country was in
a certain amount of turmoil," WHO expert Dr. C.E.
Roth told the UN News Service. Any new outbreak of the
disease is potentially serious, she stressed, since there
are so many susceptible people in the area.
All
cases of the disease were found in Liberia's Grand Cape
Mount County, where the population lives mostly in small
towns comprising 5,000-10,000 people. The road between
that county and the capital, Monrovia, is in good condition,
and increased traffic raises the risk of transmission.
Those
infected with yellow fever often fall ill with flu-like
symptoms and then appear to get better, according to Dr.
Roth, "but in the second week of illness this can
be followed by severe liver disease, jaundice and, in
a significant proportion of cases, death."
The
vaccination campaign will be conducted in cooperation
with Liberia's Ministry of Health, with WHO providing
the vaccine and syringes.
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