The virus can only be passed on by the Aedes mosquito, the same vector as for Zika and dengue, but once it arrives in a region it can in theory be spread anywhere where the insects are present.
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Save the Children warned yesterday that if the disease takes hold in Kinshasa, the epidemic could soon spread to the Americas, Asia and Europe.
Some 10 million people are at risk for yellow fever in the DRC capital city of Kinshasa.
The virus has already spread from Angola to Congo, with a total of 5,000 suspected cases.
The outbreak is the biggest reported in more than 30 years. Save the Children said there are only 7 million emergency vaccines after stocks were depleted in a series of outbreaks earlier this year.The vaccines take a year to make so it will take a lot of time to produce in large quantities. Since 2006, more than 105 million people have been vaccinated in mass campaigns.
The WHO is partnering with the Congo and Angola health ministries, as well as 56 other global organizations such as the International Federation of the Red Cross, Médecins sans Frontières and UNICEF to mobilize this massive vaccination campaign, which will hopefully be accomplished before the rainy season starts in September.
The WHO says an emergency committee will reconvene in the coming weeks to evaluate the situation and determine whether the yellow fever epidemic has been contained or constitutes a public health emergency of worldwide concern.
And since the announcement of the yellow fever initiative in 2006, we managed to vaccinate more than 100 million people, especially in Western Africa.
The aid group says the outbreak has claimed almost 500 lives.
“You are always asked for your Yellow Fever vaccination card when you come into the DRC and sometimes when you move, now, but that needs to be applied more rigorously”.
Following advice from the World Health Organization, Save the Children will provide support for the vaccination campaign that uses just one-fifth of a regular dose – to reach as many children and families as possible with the limited supplies that remain.
Symptoms range from fever to jaundice to liver disease with bleeding.
“There is no known cure for yellow fever and it could go global”, Heather Kerr, Save the Children’s country director for the DRC, said in a statement.
While the fractional dose prohibits global travel, it protects people from yellow fever during the outbreak and contains the disease from spreading further. Once infected, people often fall ill with fever and muscle pain, but many recover after several days.
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“The WHO Emergency Committee will reconvene in coming weeks [and] will re-evaluate the situation but we think that the outbreak is manageable if we can protect enough people with the vaccine”, he told reporters in Geneva.
