Patient infected with suspected unknown disease in Longechuk. | Photo: Kech Pal

At least forty-five samples taken from Langechuk County in Upper Nile State have tested positive for measles, the Director General for Preventive Health Service has said.

Dr John Pasquale Rumunu made the announcement in Juba during the presentation of findings on Wednesday, July 19, 2023.

Last month, 23 people were reported dead from a mysterious sickness in Dajo Payam in Longechuk County in Upper Nile state.

The head of the Nile Initiative Development Organization (NIDO) in Dajo Payam, Kech Pal told Eye Radio the first case of the disease was registered in the middle of June 2023.

Pal says patients suffering from the strange disease present symptoms such as vomiting with blood, diarrhoea with blood, sore throat, red eyes, and running nose.

Others are cough blurry vision and itching.

He says the rapid support team, arrived in Dajo Payam on July 8, 2023, to collect more samples of the unknown disease.

During the presentation on Wednesday, July 19, 2023, Dr Rumunu says samples tested pointed to the measles outbreak and upsurge of malaria in Darjo Payam.

He attributed the outbreak of diseases to the limited provision of basic health and nutrition services in the area.

The Director General for Preventive Health Service pointed out that humanitarian organizations such as NIDO are providing health services in Darjo with limited coverage.

Dr Rumunu says there is only 1 Primary healthcare Unit in the area with inadequate human resource capacity and no health facility in the Pashimbi area in Dajo Payam.

He attributed the lack of safe and clean drinking water, and routine immunization services are limited or lacking particularly in the Pashimbi area to the outbreak of diseases.

The official says the last vaccination campaign against vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles was conducted in 2013.

According to the Ministry of Health, about 150 people are allegedly affected with 23 people feared dead from mysterious illness.

The majority of cases (99%) are residents of the host communities, with only five cases being returnees from unknown IDP camps.

The Ministry of Health reported that there is no recorded travel history among the suspected cases.

However, according to Dr Rumunu, a total of 214 suspected cases have been reported, 99 cases in the Pashimbi area and 115 cases in Dajo.

He says the death toll stands at 19, 13 in Pashimbi and 6 in Dajo. About 135 cases recovered 15 in Pashimbi and 78 in Dajo, and 51 critically ill case patients, 31 in Pashimbi and 20 in Dajo have been reported.

More than 60 per cent of the cases are children under the age of five.