3 die in suspected hemorrhagic fever outbreak in South Sudan – WHO

A pregnant woman, a 13-year-old girl and a 15-year-old teenage boy have died in a suspected viral hemorrhagic fever outbreak that has struck a village in South Sudan. Authorities are monitoring 60 people that were in contact with the victims of the mysterious illness, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported Monday. The deceased were residents of the same village in the Eastern Lakes State, but are believed to not have a history of close physical contact with each other. All three died late December after displaying common symptoms such as fever, headache, swelling, neck pain and bleeding. The joint investigative team, led by WHO and the Sudanese Ministry of Health, have so far found evidence of mass hemorrhagic deaths of animals in the region, including that of birds and goats. The authorities are scrambling to draft an outbreak response plan.