Epidemiological Descriptive Analysis of Disease Outbreaks in 2019 in Sudan

Abstract

Background: Sudan has often faced outbreaks of malaria, the life-threatening waterborne disease. In 2019, the country experienced an outbreak of six different infectious diseases, i.e., cholera, chikungunya, dengue fever, diphtheria, malaria, and Rift Valley fever. Objectives: The aim of this study was to perform an epidemiological descriptive analysis of data of these disease outbreaks to determine the spatial and temporal patterns of outbreaks and to estimate the magnitude of the diseases. Methods: The data consisted of the number of cases and deaths due to disease outbreaks of cholera, chikungunya, dengue fever, diphtheria, malaria, and Rift Valley fever. We analyzed the reports of an investigation conducted by the World Health Organization and the Federal Ministry of Health, Sudan. Descriptive statistics and case fatality rate (CFR) were used in this study. Results: The frequency of disease occurrence was as follows: cholera (344 cases), chikungunya (308 cases), dengue fever (4236 cases), diphtheria (105 cases), malaria (5,188,135 cases) and River Valley fever (567 cases). The CFRs for cholera, chikungunya, are diphtheria were 4.3%, 2.05%, and 9.5%, respectively. The mortality rate of malaria was 0.0013. The states most affected by outbreaks of these diseases in Sudan were the western states. Women were at a higher risk for all diseases, except River Valley fever. Conclusions: This study highlights the patterns of the outbreak of these diseases in Sudan and provides a basis for future scientific research.