At least 51 people dead following an outbreak of yellow fever in Angola

Al least 51 people have died following a yellow fever outbreak in Angola, less than two months after is started spreading in the capital, the national director of health said. Health experts say the outbreak has been exacerbated by a breakdown in sanitation services and rubbish collection in Luanda and other cities, leading to an increase in the mosquitoes that carry the disease. A total of 240 people were infected, the southern African country’s top health civil servant Adelaide de Carvalho told a forum over the weekend. More than 450,000 of the targeted 1.6 million people have been vaccinated in the capital, she added. City authorities have slashed their budget for rubbish collection to cope with a budget crisis, leaving piles of waste building up in poorer suburbs including Viana, where the first case of yellow fever was reported in late December. There has also been an increase in malaria, cholera and chronic diarrhoea, health officials say. Many sanitation contractors say they have not been paid, or are struggling to import equipment because of foreign exchange shortages. Yellow fever symptoms include severe headache, nausea, vomiting and fatigue, according to the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.