Médecins Sans Frontières has just declared a hepatitis E outbreak in the southeastern region of Chad in hopes of rousing other humanitarian organizations to help contain the epidemic.
Since Sept. 2016, the international medical humanitarian group has treated 821 patients with acute jaundice — a typical symptom of hepatitis E — in Am Timan, in the Salamat region of Chad. Of this number, 68 patients were confirmed to have hepatitis E, while some 61 patients have been hospitalized and 11 died.
Four of those who died were pregnant women, three of whom tested positive for hepatitis E, according to a World Health Organization update issued in January.