DAKAR: Senegal has recorded 17 deaths from Rift Valley Fever, RVF, a health ministry official said Thursday, in a rare major outbreak of the viral disease in the West African country.
With 119 cases reported so far, mostly in northern Senegal’s livestock-producing region, the outbreak is raising concerns about further spread, said Dr. Boly Diop, head of RVF surveillance at the health ministry.
“This is the first time Senegal has counted so many people affected,” Diop told local media.
RVF is a viral disease that mainly affects livestock. Humans typically become infected through mosquito bites or contact with infected animals.
While most human cases are mild or show no symptoms, severe cases can cause eye damage, brain swelling or hemorrhagic fever, which can be fatal, according to the World Health Organization.
Transmission to humans usually occurs during slaughter, births or veterinary work, putting herders, farmers and slaughterhouse workers at a higher risk, the WHO says.
The current outbreak in Senegal was declared on Sept. 21.
Senegal’s last major outbreak dates back to the late 1980s, when it killed more than 200 people in the country and neighboring Mauritania.
RVF outbreaks have also previously occurred in other African countries, including in Kenya and Somalia in 1998 when it killed over 470 people. In 2000, the virus spread to Saudi Arabia and Yemen — its first cases outside Africa — killing over 200 people and raising concerns of wider spread to Asia and Europe.
Preventing animal outbreaks through vaccination and reducing mosquito exposure are key to controlling the disease, the WHO says.
RVF has been endemic in northern Senegal since the 1980s and is becoming more frequent across Africa due to climate change, Dr. Merawi Aragaw Tegegne, an epidemiologist with the Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention, told a news conference Thursday.
“If you see torrential rain with quick floods, then sunny days, expect RVF in the coming days with favorable conditions for the vectors,” Tegegne said.