Remote island calls for virus help

An international aid operation has been launched to contain a virus that is spreading through the tiny population of Tristan da Cunha, the most remote island cluster in the world.

According to a report from the BBC, the island's only doctor issued an appeal for medical supplies after a number of its 271 inhabitants contracted a virus inducing asthma-like symptoms, including severe breathing problems.

Situated 2,815 kilometres west of South Africa and 3,360 kilometres east of South America, the tiny British dependency has no airstrip, making it difficult to get medicine to the people.

The international operation to provide medical supplies is being led by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, after it was informed of the situation by the South African Marine Rescue Co-ordination Centre.

Although viruses have targeted the volcanic island, Michael Swales, chairman of the Tristan da Cunha association, said that it was the first time he could remember that medical supplies had run dry.

One resident told BBC Radio Cornwall that the island's hospital was overflowing last week, and that patients were now confined to three of its four beds. The virus appears mainly to affect children and the elderly.

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