
Deadly disease combination claims thousands in Angola
Raging yellow fever and malaria outbreaks claimed more than 15 000 lives in Angola over the past year. Speaking in the capital Luanda, Luís Gomes Sambo, the health minister, disclosed there were 4.2 million cases of malaria, leading to the death of 15 000 people, coupled with a yellow fever outbreak that infected 4,159 people, with 384 deaths, that later resulted to a mortality rate of 8.3percent.
Meanwhile, the country is gripped by a deadly outbreak of the ZIKA virus that has already claimed three victims, affecting a French citizen and two Angolans, who have been attended and medicated.
More attention is however being given to the cholera epidemic that plagues the provinces of Zaire, Cabinda and Luanda, with 252 cases, that has resulted to 11 deaths this year so far.
The cholera epidemic is attributed to incessant flooding experienced by the South African country in recent weeks. Sambo said judging by the death toll, the yellow fever and malaria, that plagued the country in 2016 had “dramatized” Angola.