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Strange 'flu' grips Matabeleland
Gibbs Dube, The Standard (Zimbabwe)
July 23, 2006

http://www.thestandard.co.zw/viewinfo.cfm?linkid=11&id=4161

BULAWAYO - Hundreds of people in Matabeleland are believed to have contracted a highly infectious influenza virus characterised by high fever, serious bodily aches and severe coughs.

Medical practitioners in Bulawayo, Gwanda, Beitbridge and Victoria Falls confirmed that an extraordinarily high number of people had been affected this winter by the unidentified influenza virus which they have failed to isolate.

Three top medical practitioners in Bulawayo running a chain of health centres said the majority of people suffering from the influenza were being given a cocktail of drugs.

One of the doctors said: "This is an extraordinary influenza as hundreds of people have been affected. It is not the normal common cold or flu which attacks people for between three and five days. We have tried in vain to isolate the virus.

"As a result, we prescribe a cocktail of drugs for patients. Some patients in our medical centres have been suffering from this virus for almost six weeks now. We are worried about this influenza strain. A large number of people come here seeking medical attention with high fever, aching joints and terrible coughs."

Another private medical practitioner said most of the patients with the flu were referred to them by city clinics in the high-density suburbs.

Although top officials in Bulawayo City Council's Department of Health Services declined to comment on the issue, senior nurses at various clinics indicated they had recorded an overwhelming number of patients suffering from the influenza.

"This is highly infectious compared to common colds and flu. We are referring severe cases to private doctors who have informed us that the influenza strain is not yet medically isolated in order to treat it with specific drugs," said a senior nurse at one of the city clinics.

Private doctors in Gwanda, Beitbridge and Victoria Falls also confirmed that they were recording a high number of patients infected with the virus.

A doctor based in Gwanda said: "We are really trying our best to tackle this influenza in conjunction with the relevant government ministry and departments. The tragedy is that most of the people who are infected cannot pay the required consultation fees of $3,8 million."

Matabeleland North and South medical directors were said to be attending various meetings, when contacted for comment. The Minister of Health and Child Welfare, David Parirenyatwa, said the ministry had not yet received reports from Matabeleland.

Medical practitioners say influenza viruses that infect the nose, throat, sinuses, upper airways and lungs cause influenza. It is mostly a mild disease in healthy children, young adults and middle aged people but life-threatening in older people, toddlers and in people of any age with chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart, lung or kidney diseases or compromised immune systems.

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