Mon 29 Jun 2009
Source: Free Republic, The Media Line report [edited]
<http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2281642/posts>
Countries in North Africa are boosting precautionary measures in heightened
efforts to prevent bubonic plague from spreading to their territories.
According to the London-based Al-Quds Al-'Arabi, Algeria has documented 50
cases of the plague, some within 15 kilometres (9 miles) of the border with
Libya, where 2 people have died of the disease. As a result, Algiers has
tightened medical surveillance on its borders with Libya.
Officials there fear that Bedouin are crossing the borders from the Illizi
province into Libya and passing the disease back into Algeria, according to
local Algeria and Moroccan press.
Rodents in the area have been seen [found? - Mod.LL] bearing the disease,
Aphaluck Bhatiasevi, a spokeswoman for the World Health Organization (WHO),
told The Media Line. "But it hasn't infected people for 25 years," she
said. "They're still investigating the cause. It's likely exposure to
fleas. It's not pneumonic plague, which can be transmitted from one person
to the other. It stops at the person who gets infected."
Health authorities in Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco are also taking
extra measures to contain the disease, Al-Quds Al-'Arabi reported. Earlier
in June 2009, Egypt closed its border with Libya following confirmed
reports that around 13 people were infected with the bubonic plague in the
Libyan coastal city Tubruq, 93 miles (150 km) from the Egyptian border.
The Libyan media reported between one and 3 fatalities from the disease,
and Bhatiasevi said the Libyan authorities were being extremely supportive,
cooperative and open with the investigation. She added that they have also
launched awareness campaigns in the area.
Algeria and Libya share a border 982 kilometres (610 miles) long, and a
large, unsupervised passage of people and goods flow through the border daily.
Some believe the outbreak could be connected to the consumption of camel
meat or caused by camel fly bites. Outbreaks connected to the consumption
of contaminated camel meat were reported in the past in Libya, Jordan, and
more recently in Saudi Arabia in 2005.
[byline: Rachelle Kliger]
--
communicated by:
ProMED-mail rapporteur Susan Baekeland
[Earlier this year (2009), ProMED-mail followed a possible outbreak of
plague in Algeria that apparently was not. We would appreciate more
information documenting this bacterial infection in Algeria and if the
disease has spread from eastern to western Libya. - Mod.LL
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