Scurvy likely cause of Afghanistan outbreak

KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Officials with the World Health Organization said Friday that they believed a vitamin C deficiency is at the root of an outbreak of disease in a remote, central Afghan province.

A spokeswoman for the U.N.-affiliated group said doctors were still not completely clear about the outbreak, but now believe it to be scurvy with a secondary infection.

Spokeswoman Loretta Hieber-Girardet in Kabul said WHO is ready to send doctors with supplies of the vitamin to the area, but the region is difficult to access without helicopters, which are in short supply. The lack of access to the region has also hindered identification of the disease.

Forty people in Ghowr province have died from the disease, and aid workers have seen symptoms in at least 80 people in a dozen villages.

Two staff members of the Action Against Hunger humanitarian group also have shown signs of the disease and are under observation. The group said it wants to evacuate its staff from the area.

Earlier, officials said patients showed symptoms similar to those of Congo-Crimean hemorrhagic fever, a rare but potentially deadly disease.

Congo-Crimean hemorrhagic fever, or CCHF, occurs in eastern Europe, central Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, and is usually transmitted through ticks, according to the WHO. Dr. Ray Arthur, a WHO virologist, said the disease is not usually a threat during winter months.

"Congo-Crimean fever is one of the possibilities, but ... the information that we've gotten suggests this is most likely to be scurvy," Arthur said.

The Afghan villagers struck with the disease experience joint pains, black marks on the body, swollen eyes, weakness and diarrhea.

Ghowr province was a battleground ground between Taliban and Northern Alliance forces late last year, and suffered during years of drought throughout the country. The International Committee for the Red Cross continues to try to distribute food in Ghowr and the WHO hoped it would be able to air-drop vitamin C later Friday.

Kabul's interim Ministry of Health could not be reached for comment on the situation Friday.