There are numerous new stories and follow-ups to several infectious disease outbreaks on the continent of Africa and we’ll take a look at them right here.

South Sudan cholera outbreak

Image/CIA
Image/CIA

In a follow-up to a report last week, The Central Equatoria State Ministry of Health in South Sudan report the cholera outbreak continues to grow. They now put the cumulative number of cases as of 14 July at 984, including 34 deaths.

This is up from 700+ cases and 32 deaths one week ago.

Uganda malaria outbreak

For the past two months, Northern Uganda has been seeing a huge amount of malaria cases, according to the Ministry of Health.

Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng, the director general of health services at the ministry, said a total of 22,873 cases had been registered in 10 districts (Lamwo, Gulu, Kitgum, Oyam, Agago, Apac, Amuru, Kole, Nwoya and Pader), with 162 confirmed deaths in less than two months.

Aceng said the ministry, through the national task force, had activated the public health emergencies operations centre (PHEOC) to coordinate a response under an incident management team.

What is malaria?

Nigeria hepatitis

One out of every 12 Nigerians are infected with either hepatitis B or C, Nigerian health officials report.

According to Dr Chukwuma Anyaike, Head of Prevention, Department of Public Health at the Federal Ministry of Health, about 20 million Nigerians are infected with either of the two viruses.

Anyaike notes:

“Viral Hepatitis is a very big public health issue in Nigeria. By the work Federal Ministry of Health has done, we have 20 million Nigerians living with Hepatitis B and C and they are at the risk of developing cirrhosis of the liver and cancer of the liver. Most importantly, these ones are living in the communities and they are not aware of it and in the same process, they are transferring the infection to other people in the community.”

Ghana schistosomiasis

Finally in Ghana, officials are reporting an increase in the parasitic disease, schistosomiasis, in Prestea Himan, a mining community in the Western Region. The report does not however give any specific numbers to the increase.

Health screening in the area discovered the increase in cases, particularly among children.

What is schistosomiasis?