Unknown infectious disease kills 2, infects over 500 in E. Afghanistan

KABUL, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) — The outbreak of an unknown infectious disease has claimed at least two lives and infected more than 500 others in eastern Afghanistan’s Parwan province, a local official reported late on Tuesday.
In four days, more than 500 people have been infected with an unknown infectious disease in the province’s Kafshan region, Shinwari district, about 80 km north of the capital Kabul and the number is increasing, Hikmatullah Shamim, spokesman for the provincial governor posted on his social media account X.
Among the infected, the health conditions of 50 patients were reported critical, said Shamim, adding that general weakness, severe pain in hands and feet, severe diarrhea, and high fever are the symptoms of this disease.
According to Shamim, a health team has been dispatched to the area and patients in serious health conditions have been shifted to the provincial hospital of Parwan and the infectious hospital in the capital Kabul for treatment.
The reason for the outbreak of the disease is not clear yet. ■