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BUJUMBURA,
Burundi (AP) - A severe malaria outbreak in the past month
has killed 818 people, including at least 100 children,
a medical official said Monday.
The
epidemic broke out in the Mwaro province of the tiny central
African nation, said Dr. Tharcisse Barihuta, director of
the National Program for Communicable Diseases. The provinces
of Gitega and Cibitoke were also hit hard, he said.
Most
of victims died "either by refusing to treat the disease
and turning to traditional medicine or because they lacked
money to go to a doctor," said Health Minister Stanislas
Ntahomvukiye.
Malaria
is transmitted by the bite of the Anopheles mosquito, which
carries the Plasmodium parasite. There is no vaccine to
prevent malaria, but it can be suppressed by taking daily
or weekly doses of antimalarial medicines, which are also
used in larger doses to treat the illness. Most Africans
cannot afford these medicines.
Mosquito
nets treated with insecticide are promoted as the best defense
against the malaria-bearing mosquitoes, but most people
in Africa do not have these.
The
National Program for Communicable Diseases estimates that
one of every two Burundians will be infected with malaria
this year in the country of 6.5 million. The World Health
Organization says that Malaria kills an estimated 1 million
around the world, but the majority of victims are young
children in Africa.
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