Yellow fever in Sudan kills 165: WHO

GENEVA - As of Tuesday, a total of 732 suspected cases of yellow fever, including 165 deaths have been reported in 33 out of 64 localities in Darfur of Sudan, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Thursday in a statement.

WHO said laboratory results have confirmed yellow fever in 40 clinical samples.

Sudan's Federal Ministry of Health is organizing a vaccination campaign against the disease. The first phase of the campaign began on November 21 to cover 2.2 million people, and the second phase is scheduled for this month to cover an additional 1.2 million at risk population, according to the WHO.

WHO has activated the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN) and is deploying additional experts to support the ongoing response in the country, the statement added.

Yellow fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic disease transmitted by infected mosquitoes.