Update of Plague outbreak in Madagascar and local response

4th October 2017 – The plague outbreak in Madagascar continues to propagate. There are several outbreak response interventions going on by WHO, Red Cross and other agencies in country. Red Cross has indicated that there has been 157 cases to date with 28 deaths. Measures taken so far in Seychelles:

  • Surveillance form are completed by all arriving passengers and crew from Madagascar.
  • Passive surveillance(home based)will be done for 7 days upon arrival.They are visited / contacted daily.
  • So far 18 people are under passive surveillance/
  • Upon Public Health Authority recommendations, IOT has agreed to postpone all leave of Malagasy workers due to travel to Madagascar until further notice.
  • All those on leave in Madagascar are being informed to remain there until further notice.
  • All travel agents and airlines have been informed to advise passengers coming to book for flights to Madagascar about the advisory to refrain from travelling there. For those who insist they will be referred to CDCU for further advice.
  • Briefing is being organised for all category of staff that work at airport-starting tomorrow Thursday 5th October
  • Seychelles port and fishing authority are being informed to advise fishermen not to visit Madagascar ports until further notice.
  • Tests for plague are being brought in from institute Pasteur and should be available in next day or so.Confirmatory tests will be done at institute Pasteur Madagascar or NICD (National Institute of Communicable Disease)in South Africa. We are also building capacity to bring the confirmatory tests to our molecular lab in Seychelles
  • Active observation of the persons being kept at military training academy
So far all of them have remain well except for 2 persons. The first one is a male (54 years) was brought into the isolation room at the hospital on Monday (2days ago). He was feeling unwell, general body ache but not feverish or having respiratory distress. He did not meet the case definition for pneumonic plague but as an extra precaution he was isolated for testing and active observations. He remains without fever and all his vital signs are normal. He continues to receive antibiotics,including intravenous.This afternoon a female, at Perseverance observation facilities developed fever and body ache. Although she did not have direct contact with the deceased when he was ill, extra precaution are being taken being part of the group current under active observation. She does not meet the case definition.She has just been admitted in isolation at the hospital for further testing and supportive treatment and monitoring. This includes intravenous antibiotics.
Further update will be provided tomorrow

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