The World Health Organization has announced that some 16 African countries are exposed to the deadly listeriosis outbreak which is linked to contaminated meat food in South Africa.
Neighboring countries in Southern African have already reported of some cases with some of them banning the import of processed meat food from South Africa.
On Tuesday the World Health Organisation said in a statement that it is engaging partners in other African countries to get them prepared for possible outbreak.
“This outbreak is a wake-up call for countries in the region to strengthen their national food safety and disease surveillance systems,” said Matshidiso Moeti, WHO’s regional director for Africa.
The 16 countries are Angola, Botswana, Congo, Ghana, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The listeriosis outbreak has killed nearly 200 people since January 2017 with South Africa’s health minister saying that there have been 950 cases in all.
A South African factory is said to be the source of the outbreak with all products from the factory recalled.
Source: Africafeeds.com
