Disease

Plague in Madagascar - Update

The head of the World Health Organization is warning about an “alarming” plague outbreak in Madagascar that could worsen, particularly as fleas that transmit the disease to humans have developed immunity to insecticide.

Plague is “endemic in Madagascar,” where seasonal outbreaks can be exacerbated by poverty and an increasing number of people living in close urban settings. Plague responds well to treatment when detected early, which is possible with a “cheap and reliable” diagnostic test that provides results within 15 minutes.

However, the current outbreak has managed to establish a foothold in the capital Antananarivo, and could spread easily through the city’s densely populated slums. Earlier this month, the International Society for Infectious Diseases (ISID) issued a statement to say that the plague epidemic had reached Madagascar’s capital with 10 suspected cases.

A recent tropical storm has exacerbated the threat of the disease spreading from “untold numbers of rats” that have been displaced by flooding.