Typhoid epidemic unleashes panic in Pyongyang
Seoul (AsiaNews) - An outbreak of para-typhoid fever hit North Korea last week. The authorities, a source told AsiaNews, "are in a panic. Medicines for treating this fever, the normal antibiotics, can only be found on the black market at prohibitive prices. And having cut from the national budget expenditure for public health in favour of the army, they have no money on hand to curb the epidemic. " A source of North Korean Daily adds: "The disease appeared autumn of last year. Until now it was quite limited, especially in rural areas bordering the capital, but now it's everywhere. In some areas there is a patient every two households and the government does not know what to do. "
The para-typhoid fever is an infection caused by salmonella bacteria. It is transmitted through contaminated food or dirty water, but can also be conveyed through common insects. It is quite frequent in underdeveloped states and is very contagious. The best treatment is isolation of the patient and disinfection of affected areas: a procedure not possible in a nation where every human being has to work to survive.
All this is aggravated by malnutrition virtually endemic in the country. A dissident, currently residing in South Korea, recalls: "In 1997 about 800 people died of this disease in the province of Yangkang. Then as now, because of the famine, peoples’ immune system are at historic lows. In addition, drugs that pass the state come from China, and everybody knows that you can not trust them a lot”.
The source for AsiaNews concludes: "In the past, through NGOs, we could help by sending food and enough antibiotics to stop the sick from working. Today, with the blockade imposed after the devastating attacks ordered by the regime, this is impossible. We know that whatever we send will end up in the hands of soldiers. "
.png)
12/02/2016 15:14
24/04/2006
16/05/2005
