The Minister of Public Health of Cameroon, Malachie Manaouda, said on Friday, February 10, that mobility has been restricted along the country’s border with Equatorial Guinea due to “several unexplained deaths” caused by an unknown illness that causes hemorrhagic fever.
The restrictions were imposed in view of “the high risk of importation of this disease and in order to detect and respond to any cases at an early stage”, he said in a statement.
With the assistance of experts from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization (WHO), investigations are currently underway, and epidemiological surveillance has been strengthened.
“At the current stage … there is no reason to be worried,” Malachie said.
In a statement released on Wednesday, Equatorial Guinea stated that it has seen a “unusal epidemiological situation” in recent weeks in the Nsok Nsomo district of the Kie-Ntem province that resulted in nine deaths in two nearby communities in a brief period of time.
The tenth death was reported on Thursday, February 9, by a crisis commission established by the health ministry.
Fever, weakness, bloody vomit, and diarrhea were the symptoms that were observed. A team was sent to isolate contact cases and take samples that were sent to a regional WHO lab for testing.
According to a WHO spokesperson, the organization was assisting the examination of samples to determine what caused the deaths and anticipated to receive results in the next few days.
Cameroon said approximately 20 deaths had been recorded on Wednesday in villages in Equatorial Guinea’s Kie-Ntem province, which borders Cameroon’s Olamze district.
Ngu Fankam Roland, the district’s director of health, said in a statement that the symptoms of the “non-identified illness” were nasal bleeding, fever, joint pain, and other ailments that resulted in death within a few hours.
Author-Roberta Appiah
