Revista de patología clínica y experimental

Abstracto

Viral Haemorrhagic Fever in North Africa; an Evolving Emergency

Mohamed A Daw and Abdallah El-Bouzedi

Viral hemorrhagic fever has been associated with high mortality rate which brought serious concern for public health worldwide and prompted a sense of urgency to halt this infection. The clinical symptoms are very general and could be easily missed, consisting of onset of fever, myalgia, and general malaise accompanied by chills. In unstable countries of North Africa with fragile health services complicated with armed conflicts and population displacement, such infections could be easily confused with other local parasitic and viral diseases. Libya has the longest coast in North Africa facing the South European region. Emerging of Viral hemorrhagic fever in this region will pose an evolving risk to the European countries and thus worldwide. An outbreak of unidentified VHFs was reported in June/July 2014 among twenty three African patients from immigrants encamps in North West of Libya, twelve of them reported dead. The clinical and laboratory evidences strongly suggest VHF as the likely cause. Since then no more similar cases were reported till February 2015. With the arrival of viral hemorrhagic fevers in North-West of Libya, the South European countries is now at severe risk, then it is only a matter of time before it becomes apparent in developed countries. This review aims to highlight a recent spread of VHFs in North Africa in the light of political instability associated with massive immigration from the endemic areas of West African countries.