Kenya declares yellow fever outbreak as 4 people die, here is what you should know

After four people died in Isiolo County, Kenya declared an outbreak of yellow fever. Fifteen others have also been diagnosed with the same and are recovering at a hospital.

Patrick Amoth, director general of Kenya's health ministry, while speaking to AFP said, "We have an additional death to the three that we had reported earlier."

He further said that the risk of further spread is low as the outbreak is in a sparsely populated region.

"Because of the demographics of Isiolo, in terms of the number of people and how people are widely spread apart, it makes it a little easy to control," Amoth said.

The first case was detected on January 12, 2022.

What is yellow fever?
Yellow fever is an acute and contagious viral disease. It is transmitted by the same mosquitoes which spread Zika and dengue.
The World Health Organisation defines it as an acute viral haemorrhagic disease transmitted by infected mosquitoes. The "yellow" in the name refers to jaundice that affects some patients.

The infection is most common in areas of Africa and South America.

The symptoms include fever, headache, nausea and vomiting. It is usually mild. However, it can become more serious, causing heart, liver and kidney problems along with bleeding.

If one is given good supportive treatment in hospitals, it improves survival rates. There is currently no specific anti-viral drug for yellow fever. Yellow fever vaccinations, however, are routinely recommended for travellers going on safaris in Kenya.

The disease is usually difficult to diagnose, especially during the early stages. A more severe case can be confused with severe malaria, leptospirosis, viral hepatitis (especially fulminant forms), other haemorrhagic fevers, infection with other flaviviruses (such as dengue haemorrhagic fever), and poisoning.

In the early stages, the virus can be sometimes detected using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing in blood and urine. In later stages, testing to identify antibodies is needed (ELISA and PRNT).

(With inputs from agencies)