Typhoid fever strikes refugee camps

Faecal dust and filthy water could have fatal consequences for thousands of refugees crammed into makeshift burlap camps. Now, with the first confirmed case of typhoid fever, the worst fears of aid workers are coming true.

In a pathetic irony the two-year-old struck down with the disease, which unchecked can rip through the already weakened Afghan refugees like a forest fire, is called Bakhtawar, which means "Lucky".

The toddler and his family arrived in Quetta three weeks ago at the end of a trek which took them from Kunduz in the far north of the country, through the hungry centre where more than 400,000 are believed to be on the verge of starvation, and across to Pakistan.

That they have made it this far could be seen as a miracle, as the family picked their way across heavily mined mountain passes and through the shifting frontlines between the Taliban and their opponents in a landscape which has not seen rainfall for three years.

And Lucky will survive his illness, which was diagnosed by Pakistani doctors at the Al Shafa laboratory, because he now has access to medicines and oral re-hydrants.

Aid workers have warned that an isolated case of typhoid fever in an Afghan toddler already weak from hunger could spread through the refugee population in and around Quetta unless there is a drastic improvement in conditions.

"There is no surprise here. When people move huge distances through terrible conditions and arrive in an area where there is no clean water, they inevitably live in their own mess. So, diseases such as typhoid, and possibly cholera will spread," said Gordon Weiss, spokesman for the United Nations Children's Fund in Quetta.

There are also fears that disease could spread to the Pakistani population which is playing host to thousands of Afghans who have sneaked through the closed borders in search of sanctuary. This, in part, could explain why last night Pakistani authorities came to an agreement with the local Taliban based at the Chaman crossing, to move an estimated 7,000 refugees who are waiting to cross, away from the frontier.

Pakistani officials said that they had agreed with the Taliban that refugees would be kept at Spin Balbak, a few miles from the border, where they will be supplied with aid from the UN and others in Pakistan.

It has also become clear that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has been wildly exaggerating the numbers of refugees believed to be heading for Pakistan from Kandahar, the Taliban's main base. Aid officials agree that at least 80 per cent of the city's 450,000 civilian residents have left, but there is no evidence that hundreds of thousands are heading for Pakistan, as claimed yesterday by the UNHCR.