Sixteen people have been confirmed killed following an outbreak of yellow fever in Nigeria’s southeastern state of Ebonyi, a local official said on Friday.

The outbreak in Ebonyi since July 15 was recorded in only one rural community, said Chris Achi, a permanent secretary of health in the state.

Achi said health experts, including the Nigeria Center for Disease Control, had intervened in the past two weeks, with a view of ending the yellow fever epidemic.

The official said among the steps taken so far by local health officials to stem the spread of the outbreak, included the adequate sensitization of the people that such disease is not treated in herbal homes but in hospitals.

Most of the victims, he noted, were treating the disease at herbal homes, saying that was why it spread rapidly.

“It is also good for people to be aware of events around them as the disease could have been difficult to curtail if it had spread to the urban centers,” he said.

The yellow fever is mostly caused by a type of mosquitoes called “Aedes Aepyti” found in the tropics and sub-tropics. It is transmitted from person to person through mosquitoes, although there are also forest monkeys that transmit it.

Achi said the disease often manifests fever, typhoid, among other symptoms and if not detected on time, will affect the blood and the victims will experience renal failure and possible coma.