An unknown disease has killed about 89 people in the northern town of Fangak, Jonglei state of South Sudan
A World Health Organization – W.H.O – task force has been deployed to investigate the unidentified illness.
The W.H.O sent a rapid response team of scientists to the area, which is one of the worst-hit by recent severe flooding, to collect samples from sick people
Local health officials in Fangak said initial samples from the sick returned negative results for cholera.
The W.H.O’s Sheila Baya, disclosed that ‘a rapid response team has been sent for risk assessment and investigation; that is when they will be able to collect samples from the sick people – but provisionally the figure that we got was that there were 89 deaths.’
Baya said the team of scientists had to reach Fangak via a helicopter due to severe flooding in the area, adding that the group are waiting for transport to return them to the capital Juba on Wednesday.
In the bordering state of Unity, severe floods have increased the spread of diseases such as malaria and caused malnutrition in children due to food shortages, Lam Tungwar Kueigwong, the state’s minister of land, housing and public utilities, said.
Oil from the fields in the region had contaminated the water, he said, leading to the death of domestic animals.
The flooding in the north of South Sudan has cut off communities from accessing supplies of food and other vital commodities.
More than 700,000 people have been affected by the worst flooding in the country for nearly 60 years, the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR said, blaming climate change