Description of the situation
21 January 2003
Disease Outbreak Reported
Following the previous report of an outbreak of pertussis in Khwahan district, the provincial capital of Badakhshan, north-eastern Afghanistan, an emergency team of health officials from the United Nations, WHO and the Afghan Ministry of Health have been working in in the Khwahan and Darwaz districts giving the antibiotic, erythromycin, to protect those people who are not immunized against pertussis. The team is implementing a 10 day treatment regimen of erythromycin to all children under 15 years of age in 5 affected subdistricts. Thirty-nine 2-person teams are treating 100 children each day in 189 villages.