The death toll from an outbreak of plague in Madagascar has now hit 74 over the past two months, health officials in the country have said.
The island nation’s health ministry in a statement said that a total of 805 cases have been reported so far since August.
Plague is a highly infectious disease carried by small mammals like rats.
Madagascar has suffered plague outbreaks almost every year since 1980 – typically between September and April – which are often sparked by rats fleeing forest fires.
The current outbreak is however considered unusual, since it has affected even urban areas, even the capital Antananarivo.
The World Health Organization (WHO) earlier this month delivered nearly 1.2 million doses of antibiotics and released US$1.5 million in emergency funds to help in the fight against the plague outbreak in Madagascar.
The doses are enough to treat up to 5000 patients and protect up to 100 000 people who may be exposed to the disease.
Most of the infections and deaths that the Ministry of Health has reported since August are associated with pneumonic plague – a more dangerous form of the disease that affects the lungs and is transmitted through coughing at close range.
