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(Damongo) – The Catholic Bishop for the Damongo Diocese, Most Rev Peter Paul Angkyier has on Thursday, 4th November, 2021, visited suspected yellow fever patients on admission at the West Gonja Catholic hospital in Damongo, the savannah Regional capital.
Most Rev Peter Paul Angkyier visited the hospital following recent suspected outbreak of yellow fever disease in the Savannah region which has so far killed about eight (8) persons.
The Bishop prayed and interacted with the suspected victims on admission at the hospital and absorbed the medical bills of those who could not afford to pay their bills to receive medical care and also promised to provide nutritional food for the malnourished on admission at the hospital.
In an interaction with the management of the hospital, Most Rev Peter Paul Angkyier urged management to institute or set up a fund to cater for the poor and vulnerable in society in times like this. He commended the efforts put in so far by the Ghana health service, it’s partners, case management team from Accra and management of the hospital for the rapid response to the suspected yellow fever outbreak in the area.
Ghana health service last week announced suspected yellow fever killed 8 in the Savannah region through a statement
Yellow fever is an acute viral haemorrhagic disease transmitted by infected mosquitoes. The “yellow” in the name refers to the jaundice that affects some patients.
Some symptoms of yellow fever include fever, headache, jaundice, muscle pain, nausea, vomiting and fatigue.
A small proportion of patients who contract the virus develop severe symptoms and approximately half of those infected die within 7 to 10 days
Large epidemics of yellow fever occur when infected people introduce the virus into heavily populated areas with high mosquito density and where most people have little or no immunity, due to lack of vaccination. In these conditions, infected mosquitoes of the Aedes aegypti species transmit the virus from person to person.
Yellow fever is prevented by an extremely effective vaccine, which is safe and affordable. A single dose of yellow fever vaccine is sufficient to grant sustained immunity and life-long protection against the yellow fever disease. A booster dose of the vaccine is not needed. The vaccine provides effective immunity within 10 days for 80-100% of people vaccinated, and within 30 days for more than 99% of people vaccinated.
The savannah Region so far recorded about 44 suspected cases of yellow fever with 15 coming from the North Gonja district and the remaining 29 from West Gonja municipal assembly out of which eight (8) have died.
source:padfm.com.gh / Kumatey Gorden
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