BAMAKO, Feb 6, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Seven people have died in an outbreak of
Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, also known as Congo fever, in a village in
central Mali, an official said.
Yacouba Maiga, the spokesperson for the regional government of the central
Mopti region, said that a shepherd “contracted the illness from an ox” in the
village of Samoa in late January.
He was treated but the disease surfaced again on February 1 infecting 14
people and killing five, the official said.
Two other patients died while being transported to the town of Sevare, in
central Mali, for treatment.
“It’s different to coronavirus,” said Maiga, referring to the deadly SARS-
like virus currently sweeping China.
Congo fever is a tick-borne viral disease which causes severe
haemorrhaging, according to the World Health Organization.
People are often infected after they come into contact with the blood of
infected animals, often after slaughtering livestock.
Humans in very close contact with each other, however, can also transmit
the disease.
“It’s a rare pathology in Mali. There have been cases around 10 years ago,”
Health Minister Michel Sidibe told AFP.
Health officials were preparing for an “investigative mission in the area
with the support of security forces,” according to a health ministry report
from Monday, which was seen by AFP on Wednesday.
However, an official in Mopti said the fact-finding team had not yet left
on Wednesday.
The Mopti region in Mali is hit by regular jihadist attacks, as a conflict
between the militant and government and foreign forces is raging in the area.
The violence has its roots in a 2012 rebellion in northern Mali, which has
since spread to the centre of the country, and also to neighbouring Burkina
Faso and Niger.