Photo: Louise Roland-Gosselin/ Médecins Sans Frontières

Getting a check-up (file photo): Yellow fever is caused by a virus carried by mosquitoes and it is a common disease in South America and in sub-Saharan Africa.

Eighteen people have died and 40 others infected by yellow fever which has recently spread in Darfur region, Health Minister of Sudan's West Darfur State said Sunday.

"Yellow fever has killed 18 people and infected 40 others in the state," the Ashrouq Net quoted West Darfur State's health minister Ahmed Ishaq Yaqoup as saying.He added that nine samples have been sent to Khartoum for test. The minister further said his state embarked on confronting the disease through spraying pesticides to combat mosquitoes, the disease vector, and providing vaccines and saturated mosquito nets.He urged the citizens to immediately report any new cases.

On Wednesday last week, Sudanese Health Ministry said 32 people were killed and 50 others infected by yellow fever in the country' s Central and South Darfur states.The ministry said it has taken necessary measures to prevent the spread of the disease and lessen the mortality rate via provision of all the required medications to treat the disease and combat the vector mosquitoes.

Xinhua