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September 7, 2008 12:53:55 AM CDT

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Outbreak Hits World's Most Remote Island

Posted Dec 5, 07 2:18 PM CST in World 

(Newser) – A severe viral asthma is wreaking havoc on Tristan da Cunha, a volcanic island 1,700 miles off the coast of South Africa described as the world's most remote community, the BBC reports. Many of the island's 275 residents are having trouble breathing; medical supplies are dwindling in the South Atlantic community, which has no airstrip.

The disease is afflicting mainly the elderly and young children, taxing the island's one-doctor, four-bed hospital. "It makes people chesty and it's hard for them to breathe," one resident told BBC Radio Cornwall. A spokeswoman for the British Foreign Office said it was still working on plans to get medical supplies to the island ahead of the next scheduled delivery.

Sources BBC, The Herald (UK)

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The 275 residents of the remote volcanic Tristan da Cunha, in the south Atlantic, are in need of medical supplies for a rare viral outbreak.   (Wikimedia Commons)
The virus appears to be an outbreak of viral-inducted asthma, and medical supplies are running short in the remote island community.   (Shutterstock.com)
Tristan da Cunha's one resident doctor has issued an appeal for medical supplies. "It makes people chesty and it's hard for them to breathe," said one resident.   (Shutterstock.com)
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