By NewsDesk  @infectiousdiseasenews

There are a number of infectious disease outbreaks currently in Ethiopia–chikungunya, cholera, dengue fever and measles–and here’s an update:

Chikungunya

Image by Muhammad Syafrani from Pixabay

The latest numbers from officials in Ethiopia show that the outbreak in Dire Dawa has grown to 51,361 cases, with no deaths, since it started in August.

Cholera

Since the first case of cholera was reported, 1,708 cases have been reported, including 11 deaths. There are active outbreaks in Oromia, Somali, SNNP, Amhara and Afar regions. A total of 54 cases have been laboratory confirmed.

Dengue fever

A dengue fever outbreak was reported in Gewane woreda of Afar region on September 16. Total cases so far are 536.

Measles

For the past 10 months, Ethiopia has been experiencing a measles outbreak, which began in Oromio region and later affected three additional regions: Afar, Amhara and Somali. Since the beginning of the year, a total of 8,514 suspected measles cases including 57 deaths (case fatality ratio 0.67%), were reported.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says measles is endemic in Ethiopia with outbreaks reported annually. A quarter of the people affected during the current outbreak are 15 years and above and more than 82.6% of cases were either not vaccinated or their vaccination status was unknown.