Meningitis/unknown disease kills 1,000 in south Sudan outbreak last week

Reuters ^ | 01/21/2007

[DrGunsforHands]

Meningitis outbreak kills 1,000 in south Sudan Sun 21 Jan 2007 7:47 AM ET

JUBA, Sudan, Jan 21 (Reuters) - At least 1,000 people have died in one week in south Sudan's Warap state from meningitis and another unknown disease, state governor Anthony Bol Madut said in a statement sent to Reuters on Sunday.

Emerging from Africa's longest civil war, south Sudan's infrastructure is almost non-existent and outbreaks of disease are frequent. A cholera outbreak last year killed 147 people.

"There is an outbreak of meningitis and (an) unknown disease spreading fast throughout the state and there is fear it may affect other neighbouring states," Madut's statement said.

He said the symptoms of the second disease were similar to yellow fever, but the patient died quickly. He appealed for medical experts to come to diagnose the disease and help stop the spread of the outbreak.

"Up to this time the death toll is over 1,000 this week alone," the statement said. "As I am writing this press release, I am expecting other death reports sooner or later."

[DrGunsforHands]

Wow, this is terrible! Hope this is the end of it. Worried that this may be Avian Flu. For 1000 people to die from a disease in just one week is huge! Why no reporting of this? It's being carried by Reuters, so it's not like it isn't out there for people to pick up.

[pollywog]

YIKES!!

[Rodney King]

Dirt poor people in the midst of war and famine, who drink out of the same water they defacate in, are dying of disease. News at 11.

[LdSentinal]

That's terrible.

[GSlob]

meetingitis is a terrible disease.

[KantianBurke]

In that case the compassionate thing to do would be to rush in 50 thousand US troops to do...um...good works! After all if Jesus were the CIC, HE'D do it! (sarcasm off)

[browardchad]

It's apparently the word of one man -- the governor. Wait and see if it really is an "unknown disease."

The fact that it's being reported by Reuters means nothing until it's verified by some objective source.

[edpc]

He appealed for medical experts to come to diagnose the disease and help stop the spread of the outbreak.

Clooney has a thing for Darfur. He also played a doc on TV. I nominate him.

[OldFriend]

Perhaps someone gassed these people.

[null and void]

Ping

[blam]

Dang!!! That's 143 people (average) a day and no-one knows what it is?

Lots of coffins.

[Eric_WA]

Actually, this is in south Sudan where the civil war has ended, not Darfur where a war is continuing at present.

[edpc]

I'm aware of that. Darfur and this area are both in Sudan. My suggestion still stands.

[kinoxi]

Africa's "meningitis belt" stretches from Senegal to Ethiopia

I had no idea that such a place existed. It's got to be pretty bad under 'normal' circumstances to be called that.

[happygrl]

There is a saying in Africa that "Africans die from diseases that people in other countries survive."

People on that continent are so stressed physiologically from low nutrition, war, lack of access to safe water, no medical care, refugee status, and loss of family members to all of the above that they succumb quickly to whatever disease afflicts them.

This is a spike in what is otherwise a typical week in Africa.

[sono]

This number is greater than the lives lost by acute lead intoxication in Darfur.

[deputytess]

My God, haven't those people suffered enough. First Darfur now this. Where are all those celebrities when there's a real human disaster that could use their influence, such as it is.

[KarinG1]

It may seem cynical, but I think myself more of a realist. The illness will almost certainly be blamed on witchcraft and/or America and the cure will involve slaying infidels and/or child molestation. Sometimes I'm not sure why we bother trying to help such people.

[GoldCountryRedneck]

DDT might have controlled/prevented deseases in these countrys. They should thank Rachel Carlson and the enviros who banned its' use.

[processing please hold]

meetingitis is a terrible disease.

It killed my brother.

[skippermd]

The WHO has only reported 231 cases of meningococcal meningitis (the bacterial kind-- worse than the viral type) and 16 deaths from it...

IT IS VERY STRANGE that I cannot get any info on symptoms, demographics of victims, or anything else through several sources from the "unknown" disease (except that it is similar to yellow fever: early phase is fever, muscle pain (with prominent backache), headache, shivers, loss of appetite, nausea and/or vomiting with late phase of hemmoragic fever)... These are my top 4 contenders (knowing nothing about the specifics)

1. Influenza (not bird flu, just influenza A or B carried by european doctors in the area)

Sorry to hear about your brother, processing

2. Dysentery

3. Acute Hepatitis

4. Another viral hemorraghic fever: marburg, ebola, etc.

The only one of these that has a glimmer of hope for resolution in an area like darfur is dysentery. Unless someone committs 100,000 IV bags and extensive containment, the other 3 are useless to even try to treat... imho

[Psycho_Bunny]

The Sudan.....what a nightmare.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

Rachel Carlson and her ilk share responsibility for over 50 million deaths worldwide. Whenever liberalism reigns, millions die.

[spunkets]

Yes it is.

[Sally'sConcerns]

People on that continent are so stressed physiologically from low nutrition, war, lack of access to safe water, no medical care, refugee status, and loss of family members to all of the above that they succumb quickly to whatever disease afflicts them.

Which makes this so ...well, I can't think of the adjective to use, maybe horrific or terrible or awful.

Africa has the natural resources to pull their people out of the poverty and ignorance but because of tribal warfare, dictators and other similar factors, they're doomed to keep up the status quo.

[hypatia]

What a tragic image!

[Max in Utah]

Africa has the natural resources to pull their people out of the poverty and ignorance but because of tribal warfare, dictators and other similar factors, they're doomed to keep up the status quo.

"Biggest Thug Takes All" is the name of the game. You see it played over and over again in most every country on the continent.

[cgk]

Isn't South Sudan where the Christians live that are constantly under attack by the Islamics (janjaweed et al?) Awfully strange: "unknown disease."

[Sword_Svalbardt]

Meningitis can sweep through a heavily populated area, and kill a large population.

[wideminded]

There is a saying in Africa that "Africans die from diseases that people in other countries survive."

Maybe so, but typically Americans don't have to worry about catching Onchocerciasis (River Blindness), Trypanosomiasis (Sleeping Sickness), Schistosomiasis, Dengue fever, Ebola, or even Malaria. Poor nutrition and medical care are not the only reasons Africans are more likely to have these diseases. The fact is that these are tropical diseases. Americans, Europeans, and others in northern latitudes don't have to worry much about running into a rhinoceros or a lion either.

[Albert Barr]

One vulture waiting to eat, one vulture taking a picture. I don't see how a human being could take this picture. How could a human not have to heart to sweep that baby into his arms and chase off the vulture that is only doing what nature tells it to do. WHERE DO THESE JOURNALISTS COME FROM???

"Look mommy I got a Pulizter!"
"Did you help that baby at all?"
No
"Good boy."

Sorry, that photo just drives me insane!

[Psycho_Bunny]

Yes.

Actually, the journalist who took the picture was seriously criticized and a year and a half later, committed suicide.

His suicide note partially read "I am haunted by the vivid memories of killings & corpses & anger & pain ... of starving or wounded children"

[sheik yerbouty]

Sounds like the Arabic version of Imperial Japan's 731 germ warfare unit..

[DavemeisterP]

I've seen that photo several times and I agree with you wholeheartedly... but, it stirred something inside of you, right? Made you emotional? All of you are now emotional about it,right? The picture was a snapshot of a piece of history that could only be captured right then and there by that journalist so that the rest of the world might grasp the horrors going on and try to help, or at least force you to know about it. The almost forgotten history caught was gruesome and infinitely horrible beyond most of our comprehension, but the photo served it's purpose for why it was taken. The photojournalist didn't go to the Sudan to go skiing or sunbathing for sh--s and giggles, he went there to bring a piece of that other world home to people like y'all who would be appalled. What is necessarily wrong with that? You are now out of your box, and that is what the point was.

If he didn't scoop the child up immediately after this picture, that would be horribly wrong. Did he take pics of the vulture tearing the baby apart? Probably not. If he did, I haven't seen those. Maybe they're on one of the 'Faces of Death' series, which I've never seen. I doubt it. If y'all wanna get angry about photojournalists capturing death, get mad about THAT series of movies and the fact you can rent them almost anywhere for your household viewing enjoyment.

[Osage Orange]

I've felt like killing myself after too many meetings........

[Osage Orange]

If ABC had it....would that make it more believable, or less?

[Albert Barr]

I did not realize that the guy that took the picture committed suicide, or that he actually won a Pulitzer prize. In fact, that was the first time I saw the photo. It is an emotional photograph. The wikipedia article says he did chase the vulture off, but did nothing else to help the child. I guess that the true tragedy off all this is that most of the problems in Africa could be solved were it not for the corruption of African governments and the meddling of the French.

[CindyDawg]

Maybe he/she did after snapping the picture. I hope so.

[Psycho_Bunny]

Well....my first reaction was not dissimilar to yours.  I was pissed off enough that I took the time to hunt down the story behind the photo.

I think the only comfort is that the photographer seems to have done all that he could do in the situation.  He doesn't appear to have been a soulless or dishonest man, as some photojournalists are, and he really couldn't have saved her....he was in a hopeless situation without the resources he needed.

And the photograph has fostered a lot of good: people who might otherwise remain callus to the misery of the world tend to get a wake up call from a picture that horrible.  Even if they can't do anything about it, the empathy created is a force for good.

[shield]

Very sad...maybe it'll kill out the bad guys...

And not the folks who are being starved to death along with all those poor little children.... ;o(

[DavemeisterP]

I imagine that it was very hard to sleep after seeing people by the hundreds, if not thousands, (firsthand) going through such appalling circumstances and having to do your JOB with a camera. This kind of poverty goes on all over the world, yet most of us only know about it in waves of realization due to the actions of others. What a blessed bunch of ignorant nitwits we are.(Myself included)

Thank you Lord for all that WE have been given and all of your blessings to come.

[silverleaf]

Wouldn't worry about avian flu out there in the desert - but hemorrhagic fevers, cholera, typhus/typhoid, return of the plague ... all endemic in these hellhole places where humanity shows no humanity