Namibia has recently experienced an outbreak of hepatitis E.
The first identified case presented itself on October 13th, 2017 in
the Windhoek district. By January 8th 2018, 237 probable cases have
been identified. While hepatitis A, B, and C are fairly common in the country,
hepatitis E is rare for the area. The majority of cases were reported from
informal settlements in the capital. Living conditions in these areas are often
poor – with overcrowding and limited access to safe food, water, and
sanitation. This coupled with the increased movement of people due to the
holiday season are hypothesized to be the major causes of the outbreak. The
World Health Organization (WHO) has assessed the overall risk to be high for
the nation.
Stephanie Sila
You've mentioned the concept of onehealth before in class-- I'm curious how/if that affects the way you approach evaluating disease outbreaks like this one!
ReplyDeleteHave you seen that two pregnant women died because of this outbreak so far?
ReplyDelete
Delete- Chris