Bromide poisoning hits Angolan children

Nearly 400 Angolans have been hit by a mystery illness which is thought to be related to high levels of the potentially deadly chemical bromide.

Over half of those affected are children, with the outbreak killing at least four people so far, the BBC reported.

Initial tests by the World Health Organization (WHO) revealed abnormally high levels of bromide in blood samples obtained from infected patients, but the body admitted it would have to send the samples for further analysis.

"We are still in the preliminary stages of investigating this outbreak and have a lot of unanswered questions," said Peter Ben Embarek, a WHO food safety expert.

"The problem is that sodium bromide doesn't smell of anything and it looks like salt, so it would be very easy to confuse it with something else," he added.

Health officials are still receiving a series of new cases, with seven people being reported sick on Thursday (November 22nd), AP reported.

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