Tanzanian health authorities refute reports on outbreak of strange disease

Tanzanian health authorities on Sunday refuted local media reports on an outbreak of a strange disease in the country’s southern highlands that has already killed 15 people.

“The local media reports on the outbreak of the strange disease are intended to create fear among members of the public,” the Minister for Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children, Dorothy Gwajima, said in a statement.

On Saturday, some local media media outlets allegedly reported that a strange disease making patients vomit blood has already killed 15 people in the Ifumbo ward in Chunya district in Mbeya region.

In the statement, Gwajima said she deployed a team of medical experts to the area Saturday and their preliminary findings showed that reports of the strange disease were untrue.

The minister directed relevant authorities to probe Chunya district medical officer, Felista Kisandu, who acknowledged the presence of the disease to the local media.

Gwajima ordered that Kisandu should be suspended to pave way for the investigations by the Medical Council of Tanganyika. Enditem