Panic in Madagascar as plague spreads
ANTANANARIVO: Crowds of fearful residents flock to their local pharmacies before dawn, desperate to buy masks and antibiotics to stave off a plague outbreak sweeping Madagascar. In just the past few days, the highly infectious disease has wreaked havoc in the poor Indian Ocean island nation, claiming six lives in the capital city Antananarivo and causing widespread panic.
Like many of his neighbors, 50-year-old Johannes Herinjatovo quickly became overwhelmed by fear as news of the outbreak spread. He too joined the long lines forming outside the capital’s chemists. “I’d already visited six this morning and at each one they told me that they didn’t have any more masks,” he said as he left a pharmacy empty-handed. His wife Miora Herinjatovo, 55, had better luck, successfully locating a mask in a hospital. “Everyone is looking for one,” she said. “Some pharmacies are saying that there won’t be any more in the city. Others are telling us to wait. We just don’t know.”Having failed to get hold of a mask, her husband instead collected a handful of generic antibiotics. The health ministry has advised against using the treatment preventively against the plague, but that has done little to deter worried members of the public. “We are scared-all of these deaths show that the situation is serious,” said Herinjatovo. Prime Minister Olivier Mahafaly Solonandrasana dropped a bombshell on national TV on Saturday when he announced that 24 people have so far died from the plague since the end of August. — AFP