Somalia: Unknown Disease Kills 50 in Hiraan Region

Beledwayne, 27 Nov 2013 (SDN) -Unknown-illness outbreak has claimed at killed at least 50 lives in Hiraan region of central Somalia. The Director-General of Beledweyne hospital Ahmed Mohamed Khalif said “50 people died of the disease whose symptoms included high fever, paraplegia and fecal impaction,” adding that the disease sickened 15 patients in El-Ali village, 75 km south of Hiraan regional capital of Beledweyne.

“50 deaths have been reported and other 15 patients are remaining hospitalized at El-Ali health facility. It is a deadly outbreak which can kill the people within one week,” noted Khalif.

He said Al Shabaab militants control the areas where the disease hit, making access to the affected-people extremely difficult.

“The outbreak as of October killed 20 persons in Moqo-kori town but blood tests from those patients were positive for polio”.

Sources tell Garowe Online that the disease mainly affected young children and adults.

Polio virus seems to be chronic in the area over the past months and health officials detected 83 cases.

The scale of the polio outbreak is growing as most of the cases were reported from south-central regions and 11 of the victims perished in Hiraan region in July this year.

Source: Garoweonline