Kenya says Rift Valley fever returns, two dead
Pastor Dale Morgan
Kenya says Rift Valley fever returns, two dead*
20 Sep 2007 14:44:05 GMT
Source: Reuters
NAIROBI, Sept 20 (Reuters) - Rift Valley fever has killed two women in
Kenya, the government said on Thursday, raising fears of another
outbreak of the disease that claimed more than 150 lives earlier this year.
Officials had first worried that the two women who died in Nakuru
district, a tourist hotspot, had the Ebola virus, which broke out last
week in nearby Democratic Republic of Congo.
"This is not an Ebola outbreak, it is Rift Valley fever," government
spokesman Alfred Mutua told reporters in Nairobi.
Transmitted to humans by mosquito bites or close contact with
contaminated animals, Rift Valley fever can cause havoc in Kenya's
important meat trade.
The movement of livestock was temporarily halted earlier this year when
the first outbreak spread from Kenya to Somalia and Tanzania, killing
more than 100 people in each country.
In severe cases, the disease triggers haemorrhaging in humans, causing
the victim to vomit blood or bleed to death.
Outbreaks of the fever, named after the vast fissure running from Syria
down to Mozambique, are thought to be cyclical. A 1997-1998 outbreak
killed hundreds of Kenyans.