Dateline ACT
Sudan 1/99

Unknown disease kills 175 in Southern Sudan

By Victor Lugala in Nairobi, April 22, 1999
More than 175 people have been reported dead in the south eastern Sudanese town of Akobo from an unknown disease. Reports from Akobo indicate that so far 300 people have been admitted in the local hospital suffering from acute diarrhoea and vomiting. The hospital is reported to be overcrowded and some patients are sheltering under the trees. Akobo is in Upper Nile and sits close to the border with Ethiopia.

Apparently the hospital has no medicines and the situation is said to be grave in and around Akobo and Waat. There is no medical laboratory facility in the area which could help identity a causing agent for the disease. The local population fear that this could be an outbreak of cholera but this is only speculation.

Despite the outbreak of this disease, Mrs Ana Kima, a humanitarian worker with the New Sudan Council of Churches (NSCC) in Akobo, say that the sanitary situation in the area is relatively good and there is no rainfall as yet. She however speculate that the outbreak might have been a result of people drinking water directly from the river without boiling it. A medical doctor from NSCC is now in the area and it is hoped that she can shred more light on the nature of the disease.

Mrs Ana Kima said the outbreak started in northern Upper Nile early this month before it spread to Akobo. NSCC is one of several ACT members working in Sudan.

Poisoned Nile Fish?
In another and unrelated incident, five people have been reported dead at Athool village in Bor county after drinking contaminated water from the Nile River, 63 others have been hospitalized.

According to reports from Bor county, the Nile turned dark green and emitted a horrible stench last week. Fish of all types in their thousands and other marine animals were reported to have floated dead in the river.

The incident in Bor county may be related to a poisoning of the Nile water sources late last month in Uganda by local fishermen. In Uganda and Kenya people were warned not to eat fish from Lake Victoria and the lower parts of the Nile.

As a result, local authorities in Bor, which sits upstream from this pollution, advised the local population to move some kilometers away from the banks of the river and to avoid drinking the contaminated water. People were also told not to eat any dead fish or animal from the river and not to drink or bath in the river but this proved to be a difficult control measure since most if not all the local Dinka people depend on the River Nile for water and fish.

It is worth noting that since the floods of last year when the Nile burst its banks, some parts of southern Bor are still under water. And since the local population could not cultivate much food, Nile fish has been an indispensable part of their diet. Now it seems, they have to choose between eating poisoned fish and then risk the consequences of that, or trek for miles to look for wild fruits.

Victor Lugala is the Communications Officer with the New Sudan Council Of Churches.