ANTANANARIVO, Jan 28 — Madagascar said it’s stepping up efforts to tackle an outbreak of the plague which has killed at least 57 people in the Indian Ocean island nation since August, amid concern that recent floods may spread the disease.
Public Health Minister Lalatiana Andriamanarivo, giving the latest death toll by phone, said that a committee is coordinating the responses of ministries to the disease, without giving further details. The government said that all plague treatment will be free of charge, according to a report by TV Plus, a broadcaster based in the capital, Antananarivo.
Flooding caused by Tropical Storm Chedza has displaced “tens of thousands of people and untold numbers of rats, raising the risk of more rodent-borne epidemics,” Margaret Chan, director-general of the World Health Organisation, said in Geneva on January 26, according to the body’s website.
Madagascar’s presidency declared today a day of mourning for the victims of Chedza which swept through the island starting January 16. At least 68 people were killed, while about 134,100 people are registered as “storm victims” and almost 45,700 others have been displaced, according to the National Office for Disaster Management.
The outbreak of the plague, a bacterial disease transmitted by rat fleas, originated in the Soamahatamana village in August, according to the WHO. Bacteria carried by fleas on wild rats can cause different types of plagues. Bubonic plague, an infection of the lymph glands, is the most common form. If the bacteria reach the lungs, the patient develops pneumonic plague, which is “one of the most deadly infectious diseases,” the WHO said. — Bloomberg
