DRC declares yellow fever outbreak

Kinshasa. (NMG) The Democratic Republic of Congo has declared a yellow fever epidemic in the provinces of Kinshasa, Kongo Central and Kwango, after recording 67 cases of the disease, Reuters reported.

The Kongo Central Province (formerly Bas-Congo) shares borders with Angola where the outbreak was confirmed earlier.

DR Congo’s Health minister Felix Kabange told journalists that five people had died from the disease.

"I declare today a localised epidemic of yellow fever in the provinces of Kinshasa, Kongo Central and Kwango," Reuters quoted Mr Kabange telling a news conference.

Dense population

Kinshasa is the main concern for global healthcare officials, because it has a dense population of more than 12 million and poor health infrastructure.

The country is located in the yellow fever geographic area where cases were regularly reported, according to the World Health Organisation’s Disease Outbreak News (DONs)

DR Congo has a population of over 77 million (2013 statistics) spread across 26 provinces.

Zika virus

“Since January 2016, autochthonous suspected cases [of yellow fever] have been recorded in the provinces of Bas-Uele, Equateur, Kasai Central, and Tshuapa,” WHO said.

Yellow fever is spread by mosquitoes, usually the Aedes aegypti species, that also spreads the Zika virus.

A vaccine can prevent infection, but there was no specific drugs treatment for those infected.

Postpone elections

According to WHO, yellow fever was likely to have been introduced to the cities following increased viral circulation among monkeys in forests

The yellow fever outbreak in DR Congo comes at a time when political tensions linked to an upcoming presidential election and an economic crisis caused by a commodity slump were already impacting negatively on national stability.

The opposition suspects that President Joseph Kabila, in power since 2001, was scheming to postpone elections and extend his stay in office when his current mandate ends in December.