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Mauritania is facing an epidemic of Rift Valley fever. According to the Ministry of Health, 23 people have died of this hemorrhagic fever, out of 50 cases identified. An epidemic taken very seriously by the authorities.
Rift Valley fever is a zoonosis that comes from livestock: ruminants, camels, etc. it therefore first affects people in contact with animals (breeders, shepherds, butchers), explains Doctor Mohamed Lémine Mohamed Elhadj, Secretary General of the Mauritanian Ministry of Health, joined by Gaelle Laleix, from the Africa editorial staff. It is also spread by mosquitoes.
The disease often presents in mild form. The patients then have symptoms close to the flu, but when it takes a hemorrhagic form, it becomes fatal, with a fatality rate of 50%. This epidemic is therefore taken very seriously by the authorities, according to Doctor Mohamed Lémine Mohamed Elhadj.
Veterinarians and doctors are mobilized in particular in three interregional hospitals.