WHO deems Angola yellow fever outbreak ‘serious public health event

WHO Director-General Margaret Chan, MD, agreed with health officials during an emergency committee meeting on May 19 that an outbreak of yellow fever that began in Angola is of great concern and warrants national and international support, according to a press release. As of May 11, there have been 2,267 suspected cases of yellow fever in Angola and 293 deaths, according to WHO. The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) identified two autochthonous cases and is investigating at least 10 other possible cases of local transmission. DRC, along with China and Kenya, also reported infections among travelers returning from Angola. The emergency meeting was convened more than 1 week after Daniel Lucey, MD, MPH, and Lawrence O. Gostin, JD, of the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University, published a viewpoint in JAMA urging WHO to consider implementing its Emergency Use Assessment and Listing (EUAL) procedures to authorize...