Dengue fever has killed at least 18 people in Burkina Faso since August in the worst recorded outbreak of the disease to hit the West African nation, an aid agency said on Thursday.
The mosquito-borne virus – which causes flu-like symptoms and can develop into the deadly hemorrhagic dengue fever – has infected nearly 2,000 people, mainly in central Burkina Faso, said The Alliance for International Medical Action (ALIMA).
In the country’s last dengue outbreak in 2013, 111 cases of the virus were recorded, according to the medical charity.
“This is certainly the largest documented outbreak of dengue fever to hit Burkina Faso,” said Vincent Mendiboure of ALIMA.
A shortage of rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) in health facilities means that the number of cases may be higher than the 1,962 recorded by the health ministry, the medical charity said.
In private clinics, the test costs around 15 euros ($16), making it too expensive for most of the population, ALIMA said.
“The scarcity of RDTs, and the high price, has made it more difficult to respond,” Mendiboure said in a statement, adding that the charity has provided 2,100 RDTs to the health ministry.
ALIMA is working with local partners to provide free care for people with severe dengue in Burkina Faso’s capital of Ouagadougou, where the majority of cases are concentrated.
“Early diagnosis is fundamental in order to give the best possible treatment,” said Eric Diendere, an infectious disease physician and president of charity SOS Medecins Burkina.
Yet ALIMA said operations had been temporarily reduced at Ouagadougou’s Yalgado Ouedraogo University Hospital due to a three-day health worker strike which is set to end on Friday.
Dengue kills some 20,000 people each year and infects up to 390 million, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
It is the world’s fastest-spreading tropical disease, with the annual number of cases increasing 30-fold in the last 50 years, the WHO says.
