Dengue fever is on the rise in Mali with more than 20 deaths, health director says
Authorities say dengue fever is on the rise in Mali, posing a new threat to the West African nation struggling with extremist attacks and political turbulence
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Authorities say dengue fever is on the rise in Mali, posing a new threat to the West African nation struggling with extremist attacks and political turbulence.
The director general of health and public hygiene, Dr. Cheick Amadou Tidiane Traore, told The Associated Press in an interview Wednesday that his department had counted 21 deaths and 600 cases of the disease as of Monday.
Dengue is a viral infection spread by mosquitoes that mostly causes flu-like illness. In severe cases, it can cause joint pain, swollen glands, bleeding and death. There is no specific treatment, but two vaccines have been recommended by the World Health Organization for countries that suffer regular outbreaks.
Mali's government has not officially released any figures on the disease to the public, nor has it announced whether it has requested aid from the WHO.
With the country in political transition and facing the threat of fighters linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group, a new epidemic of dengue fever risks worsening the humanitarian situation especially among the large population of displaced people.
“Dengue fever is also present in Burkina Faso and Senegal, and we need to raise public awareness," Traore said.
The virus typically emerges in more tropical environments but was first detected in comparatively arid Mali in 2008. Reports of the virus reemerged in 2017 and 2019. There is little long-term data on its prevalence.
In August, the government of Chad reported the country’s first-ever outbreak of dengue, with dozens of confirmed cases in the nation that, like Mali, is located in the vast Sahel region south of the Sahara desert.
Elsewhere, the WHO has reported record cases of dengue this year in Bangladesh and the Americas, which have seen more than 300,000 cases and 4 million infections respectively.
___
Associated Press writer Sam Metz contributed from Rabat, Morocco.