Dozens of people have died from an unknown disease in the northwestern Nagaland area of Myanmar over the last two months, an epa journalist reported.
As of this morning, the sickness has claimed the lives of 40 people, marking an increase after Friday’s death toll of 39, according to Shu Maung, Assistant General Secretary of the Council of Naga Affairs.

Most victims of the illness have been children aged 12 and 13, and some adults, said Aung Htut, Chairman of the Naga Literature and Culture Council in the Naga Self-Administered Zone (SAZ), which lies on the border of India’s far eastern Nagaland state.

The illness has started off as a skin problem including itching, and a few days later worsens into bleeding from the mouth and coughing up of blood, with death following soon after.

Though government officials are still trying to diagnose the disease, it reportedly resembles pneumonia, Maung said.

The victims and those currently suffering from the illness have been from at least nine remote villages in the Nanyun and Lahe townships, which are a few dozen kilometers from the Indian border.

“The villagers don’t know what is causing the illness and are helpless,” Htut said.

A delegation of officials from Naypyidaw, the local government, soldiers and military doctors was dispatched to the affected areas a few days ago and is expected to arrive there today or tomorrow, along with medical supplies.

“I would say it’s insufficient and not so effective but they’re doing their best,” said Maung. “The death toll is rising and only then did they send emergency personnel. We really want government to respond to this and share information openly of their diagnosis.”

Myanmar’s remote northwest is relatively undeveloped and poor, with few medical resources and inadequate transportation infrastructure. EFE

Nanyun, Myanmar, Aug 7 (EFE)