Congo fever spreads in Afghanistan as displaced farmers move livestock from their drought-ravaged lands
By Ben Farmer, reporting from Islamabad
October 23, 2018
The Telegraph
[See report at The Telegraph website for detailed Congo Fever explainer including treatment, precautions]
Cases of a deadly tick-borne fever are increasing sharply in Afghanistan as a severe drought forces farmers to move infected livestock around the country.
September saw 90 reported cases of Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) with the disease so far killing nearly one in eight of those infected.
The toll has jumped from only 244 cases last year to 455 cases so far in 2018, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said, with the outbreak a knock-on effect of drought forcing farmers off the land.
CCHF is carried in the blood of livestock, who show no symptoms, and then passed on to humans via ticks or contact with infected blood and fresh meat.
The drought in northern and western Afghanistan is one of the country's worst in decades and has forced an estimated 275,000 people to leave their homes. Farmers are selling off their remaining cattle, goats and sheep, or taking them with them.
CCHF was most prevalent in the same areas before the drought and the migration is now spreading the disease, said Mohammad Sahak of the WHO.
He said: “The provinces in West and North – with high percentages of CCHF infected animals – are affected by drought. People have to move to other parts of the country with their infected animals or sell their animals due to drought in other provinces.
“It means more people and wider geographical areas are exposed to the CCHF infection which will result in more human cases and deaths.”
The latest WHO figures show 56 people have died from CCHF in Afghanistan this year, or 12 per cent of cases. The viral fever has been found in 31 of the country's 34 provinces.
Early symptoms include fever, dizziness and aches and pains, with the condition worsening to nausea vomiting, abdominal pain and rashes caused by internal bleeding. The disease has been known to kill up to 30 per cent of sufferers in some outbreaks and there is no widely available safe vaccine.
Mr Sahak said: “Improved surveillance, now covering public and private health facilities and the community, has helped a lot in rapid detection of the cases and providing timely response.”
Record low snow in Afghanistan over the winter blamed on the La Nina weather cycle in the Pacific, has been followed by rainfall of up to 70 per cent less than normal in some places. Agriculture has collapsed in swathes of the North and West. Water levels are so low wells have run dry.
The ensuing drought has hit more than two million people and caused an estimated 275,000 to leave their homes – more than have been displaced by fighting.
Nearly 20 million people rely on farming for their livelihoods in Afghanistan and agricultural output has fallen an estimated 45 per cent this year.
By Ben Farmer, reporting from Islamabad
October 23, 2018
The Telegraph
[See report at The Telegraph website for detailed Congo Fever explainer including treatment, precautions]
Cases of a deadly tick-borne fever are increasing sharply in Afghanistan as a severe drought forces farmers to move infected livestock around the country.
September saw 90 reported cases of Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) with the disease so far killing nearly one in eight of those infected.
The toll has jumped from only 244 cases last year to 455 cases so far in 2018, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said, with the outbreak a knock-on effect of drought forcing farmers off the land.
CCHF is carried in the blood of livestock, who show no symptoms, and then passed on to humans via ticks or contact with infected blood and fresh meat.
The drought in northern and western Afghanistan is one of the country's worst in decades and has forced an estimated 275,000 people to leave their homes. Farmers are selling off their remaining cattle, goats and sheep, or taking them with them.
CCHF was most prevalent in the same areas before the drought and the migration is now spreading the disease, said Mohammad Sahak of the WHO.
He said: “The provinces in West and North – with high percentages of CCHF infected animals – are affected by drought. People have to move to other parts of the country with their infected animals or sell their animals due to drought in other provinces.
“It means more people and wider geographical areas are exposed to the CCHF infection which will result in more human cases and deaths.”
The latest WHO figures show 56 people have died from CCHF in Afghanistan this year, or 12 per cent of cases. The viral fever has been found in 31 of the country's 34 provinces.
Early symptoms include fever, dizziness and aches and pains, with the condition worsening to nausea vomiting, abdominal pain and rashes caused by internal bleeding. The disease has been known to kill up to 30 per cent of sufferers in some outbreaks and there is no widely available safe vaccine.
Mr Sahak said: “Improved surveillance, now covering public and private health facilities and the community, has helped a lot in rapid detection of the cases and providing timely response.”
Record low snow in Afghanistan over the winter blamed on the La Nina weather cycle in the Pacific, has been followed by rainfall of up to 70 per cent less than normal in some places. Agriculture has collapsed in swathes of the North and West. Water levels are so low wells have run dry.
The ensuing drought has hit more than two million people and caused an estimated 275,000 to leave their homes – more than have been displaced by fighting.
Nearly 20 million people rely on farming for their livelihoods in Afghanistan and agricultural output has fallen an estimated 45 per cent this year.
[END REPORT]
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