WHO plans urgent yellow fever vaccinations in Angola, Congo

FILE- In this Saturday, Jan. 22, 2011 file photo, a health worker injects a young boy with yellow fever vaccine in Seguela in northern Ivory Coast. On Thursday, May 19, 2016 the UN health agency convened an expert committee to consider whether the epidemic of yellow fever, an acute viral hemorrhagic fever, qualifies as an international public health emergency. (AP Photo/Olivier Asselin, File)

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) -- The World Health Organization says it will carry out emergency yellow fever vaccination campaigns along the border between Angola and Congo amid fears of a mounting epidemic.

The WHO also said Thursday it will vaccinate people next month in the Congolese capital of Kinshasa, where experts worry the mosquito-spread disease could spread rapidly.

Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, the agency's regional director for Africa, says WHO is "working with partners and vaccine manufacturers to increase vaccine production." The global stocks of the vaccine are limited.

Health officials say the yellow fever outbreak began in Angola and has spread to neighboring Congo as well as to Kenya and China after infected people traveled there.

There have been 347 suspected yellow fever deaths in Angola and 75 in Congo since December.