By Isaac Salima:
A peculiar disease has reportedly claimed the lives of three children and left 20 others hospitalised at Neno District Hospital.
Caroline Banda, spokesperson for Neno District Health Office, told The Daily Times that the disease is exhibiting symptoms resembling malaria.
Banda indicated that despite this, none of the patients have been diagnosed with malaria.
“People diagnosed with the disease are presenting symptoms such as diarrhoea, fever, vomiting, headaches and stomach pains. The affected individuals are predominantly children,” Banda said.
She added that authorities are currently investigating the cause of the disease.
Meanwhile, health rights activist George Jobe has called for prompt action on the issue.
“We expect authorities to promptly initiate surveillance to identify the nature of the disease and its mode of transmission for rapid containment.
“We should also consider that Neno previously faced an outbreak of typhoid, which initially presented as a peculiar disease. Hence, it is crucial to ascertain if there is any link to typhoid,” Jobe said.
Endemic in Malawi, typhoid fever most heavily affects children under 15 years of age, with available data showing a rise in cases following an increase in drug resistance.
Medical experts note that the disease consumes time, money and productivity from those infected and their families and is associated with numerous long-term complications.
“Neno has experienced recurring typhoid fever epidemics,” researcher Treza Laston wrote in a journal article on factors associated with recurring typhoid fever epidemics in the district.
In the previous outbreak three years ago, children under the age of 10 were the most affected.
Currently, there are no reports of any peculiar disease in Mozambique, which shares a border with Neno District.
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