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Press CentreBriefing note16 April 2003: What UNICEF said at the UN briefingNine trucks caring clean water to the Fao peninsula left Iran today and entered Iraq at the Shalamcheh border crossing. Three other trucks were unable to cross today, but will cross tomorrow instead. Briefing by Geoff Keele, UNICEF Communication Officer, IRAQ
Good Afternoon There has been an outbreak of Black Fever in southern Iraq. This is a waterborne disease also know as Visceral Leishmaniasis. The Iraqi Refugee Aid Council has told us of 100 cases in Amarah, 70 cases in Nasariya, and an unspecified number of cases in Az Zubair. The ages of the victims are not known, however, Black Fever can be fatal and children under five are the most vulnerable to contracting it. This disease - spread mainly by sandflies -- causes malnutrition and anaemia and can kill weaker, malnourished children (although no fatalities have been reported in these towns so far). Symptoms of the disease include fever, weakness, discolouration, bloated stomach due to swollen organs, and black-coloured urine due to hemorrhaging. If not treated within 4-6 weeks it leads to severe debility and eventually death. Given this, our biggest concern is that the first cases of the fever were reported in February before the outbreak of the war. UNICEF immediately procured the drugs needed to treat the fever, but war broke out before we could get them into the country. At that time, 100 cases had been discovered from Thiqar governorate in the south, to Babylon in the north. These are areas we still do not have access to, and 90% of cases could die without medicine (PENTOSTAM). UNICEF has 1,000 doses of the medicine and we were able to send 100 vials of it to Nasriya yesterday. In an excellent example of UN - media cooperation, we sent in the life saving medicine with a German television crew. We hope to send 200 vials to Amarah tomorrow. Nine trucks caring clean water to the Fao peninsula left Iran today and entered Iraq at the Shalamcheh border crossing. Three other trucks were unable to cross today, but will cross tomorrow instead.
For further information please contact us:. Geoffrey Keele, UNICEF Iraq:
gkeele@unicef.org For interviews in the region, write or call directly to the UNICEF NewsDesk in Amman: (962-79) 50422058 •
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