- (AFP) - The death toll in the Indian Ocean nation of
Madagascar from a mystery viral infection has reached 153 and will continue
to climb, Health Minister Andry Rasamindrakotroka said.
-
- Experts have been baffled so far by the viral infection,
which leaves its sufferers with flu-like symptoms that lead to death within
two weeks, and has emerged in the southeast of the country.
-
- The minister said that 62 people alone had died in the
southeastern village of Ikongo, around 500 kiolmetres (300 miles) from
the capital, Antananarivo.
-
- On Thursday he announced that 89 people had died in the
Alakamisy Ambohimaha region, and that at least two more people had perished
in Ikongo. Rasamindrakotroka stressed that the figures were still coming
in.
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- Those stricken with the illness are hit with a barrage
of flu-like symptoms which usually seem to begin with a severe
headache.
-
- The pain then spreads to the neck and chest and provokes
a dry cough which results in death in a fortnight if left untreated --
while many are surviving by being treated with classic anti-flu
medications.
-
- Doctors specialising in contagious diseases and members
of the Pasteur Institute of Madagascar are at work trying to determine
the cause of the outbreak.
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- Rasamindrakotroka said that 60 of the first 62 victims
announced had died because they were unable to reach a hospital or health
dispensary in time.
-
- A local journalist in the town of Fianarantsoa told AFP
that the disease could claim more victims because sufferers often think
they have caught simply a heavy cold and try to treat the illness with
traditional herbal remedies.
-
- The health minister issued an appeal on television and
radio for the ill to seek treatment at a medical centre as soon as they
show the first symptoms of the disease.
-
- The health minister also confirmed a statement made last
week by President Marc Ravalomanana to say that health care would be
administered
free of charge in the poor Indian Ocean island's hospitals until further
notice.
-
- The crisis is the latest for the island, which emerged
last month from a long, economically debilitating and sometimes violent
power struggle between Ravalomanana and his predecessor, Didier Ratsiraka,
who eventually fled.
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