Bangkok--7 Feb--eTurboNews
An outbreak of deadly livestock borne disease, the Rift Valley Fever (RVF) has left 80 people dead in the highland areas of Kenya and Tanzania, raising an international medical alert over safety of people consuming livestock products.
At least 78 people died of RVF in Kenyan highlands in recent months, while two people died a week ago in Tanzania’s northern region of Arusha famous and rich with wildlife and livestock. Kenyan authorities think the number of RVF victims could be double the reported deaths.
Medical and administrative authorities in northern Tanzania, some 700 kilometers from the capital city of Dar es Salaam, have confirmed of the outbreak of RVF, and warned locals and foreign visitors to avoid consumption of half-cooked meat or raw milk.
The deadly disease was reported in Kenya’s Rift Valley region last year before spreading to Tanzania through migrating Maasai livestock keepers who occupy big pasturelands in the East African highlands.
Local administrative official in Arusha Mr. Evance Balama confirmed the deaths of two people infected with the RVF virus. Medical and veterinary experts have sent specimens to Nairobi in Kenya for closer verification.
Being the most dangerous disease to hit Tanzania in recent years, RVF was first reported in Kenya but it originated from Egypt and had spread through the Great African Rift Valley, rich with wildlife and livestock.
Medical experts outlined RVF symptoms to an affected person as high fever, headache, body-ache, nausea, vomiting and loss of weight within a short period. At its advanced stage, the RVF victim experience over-bleeding through various body parts and later dies.
Tanzania has beefed up security on the Kenyan porous and remote border where livestock herders have been moving freely. No warning yet issued to thousands of foreign tourists flocking northern Tanzania, but authorities in the capital city of Dar es Salaam said hotel and lodge owners and ground tourist handlers have been notified to protect their foreign clients from possible contamination with the RVF virus.