By Kantarawaddy Times
Seasonal flu is spreading widely among children and adults, including infants as young as a few months old, at an IDP camp in western Hpruso Township, Karenni State, according to a member of the camp’s health committee, who told Kantarawaddy Times.
Cases have been rising since September 10 at the camp, which houses nearly 1,000 people, she said. The illness usually starts with one family member and then spreads to the rest of the household.
“This September, not a single household has been spared. Every family has it. In my own family, no one escaped. We all got sick. In past years, when September came, there would be some fever, seasonal flu. But it wasn’t common. Now, if a family has five people, all five are sick. If it has ten, all ten are sick. It passes from one person to the next. I’ve never seen anything like this before,” the health committee member said.
People who are sick have symptoms including fever, cough, chest pain, headache, and body aches. People of all ages are falling ill, from infants a few months old upward.
The flu spreads more easily at the camp because the shelters are built close together and are poorly ventilated, the health official said.
“It mostly spreads through breathing. Once one person has it, it’s easy for the next person to catch it. It can also spread through things people touch and handle. When you take medicine, you need to finish the full course. If people take it for just a day, then stop when they don’t feel better and go to be seen somewhere else, that doesn’t work,” the health official added.
Those who are sick are currently getting medicine from nearby clinics and health workers.
The camp has more than 200 households and nearly 1,000 residents.
