WHO: Yellow fever could be a threat to the entire world

The UN fears communities living in Angola are carrying the mosquito borne virus into neighbouring countries.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) is warning that an outbreak of yellow fever in Angola, in which hundreds of people have already died, could be a threat to the entire world. The United National (UN)’s health arm fears the large international communities living in Angola are carrying the mosquito borne virus into neighbouring countries.

At the same time, 21 people have died of yellow fever in the Democratic Republic of Congo, some of them from infections contracted in neighbouring Angola, the WHO said.

The outbreak has already killed 225 people and infected 1,600 in Angola.

There was now a high risk of further spread in Congo, given the number of people who regularly travel between the two countries, the WHO said. Cases of the outbreak were first reported in Angola’s capital, Luanda in December. Travelers from Angola have already exported the virus to China, Kenya and the Democratic Republic of Congo, where at least 21 people have died. Countries where there aedes mosquito, the carriers of the yellow fever virus, are particularly at risk.