Over 200 samples collected from suspected yellow fever patients from January to November this year in the Ashanti region have come out negative, the Regional Health Directorate has said.
The Directorate has however, intensified its routine surveillance on Yellow Fever as some regions are recording cases with some deaths
Last week, the Ghana Health Service (GHS) announced that the number of people who have died from the outbreak of Yellow Fever in the Savannah Region went up to 22.
The Service said most of these victims are predominantly children who live closer to the Mole Park, where monkeys are rampant.
Director of Public Health at the Ghana Health Service Dr. Franklin Asiedu-Bekoe, who spoke on 3FM’s Sunrise on Tuesday, November 16, explained that “the outbreak is in four districts, namely West Gonja, North Gonja, Bole and Wa”.
Media reports suggested that six more persons had died from the suspected Yellow Fever outbreak in the Savannah Region.
This brought to 14 the number of persons — comprising a male adult and 13 children — who were suspected to have died of the disease so far, but according to Dr. Asiedu-Bekoe, “the number is actually 22 and not 14”.
“The number is actually 22 and not 14 and we have sent a surveillance team to these districts.”
The Director of Public Health told Sunrise host Alfred Ocansey that “we have done our test and confirmed that it is Yellow Fever and it is in four districts”.
“Ghana is endemic with Yellow Fever so we need to vaccinate people. We sent a team to the north. It is true we have vaccinated all the 260 districts.”
Dr. Asiedu-Bekoe noted that “the virus is predominant in monkeys. Mosquitoes bite the monkeys, they go and bite humans and it affects them so we are vaccinating up to 60-years and it’s free”.
Source: editors.3news.com|Ghana
