Madagascans honour their dead every year by bearing their remains through the street
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Madagascans have been urged to abandon the annual ritual of digging up dead relatives and dancing with them. This came amid an outbreak of a plague that has so far claimed more than 120 lives.
Called the Famadihana or turning of the bones, it is a widespread practice in which human remains are disinterred, rewrapped and paraded in a carnival-style celebration that is meant to honour the mortal wishes of the deceased.
Epidemiologists have for long been concerned that plague outbreaks have coincided with Famadihana ceremonies held between July and October.
For the records, earlier outbreaks have largely been of bubonic plague, which is spread by rats. This limits the number of human victims. The latest, sadly, is pneumonic plague, which spreads from person to person and appears to be accelerating. It is centred on the densely packed capital, Antananarivo.
Olivier Le Guillou, country director of Action Against Hunger, a British charity training medics and raising awareness, said, ''The epidemic is ahead of us, we have not yet reached the peak.''
Since the outbreak at the start of August, 124 deaths have been reported and 1,297 infection cases, among them 50 health workers. The health ministry chief of staff, Willy Randriamarotia, said the government has ordered that plague victims be buried in sealed, anonymous mausoleums to stop them from being disinterred. Surprisingly, the move has proved unpopular and several covert exhumations have been reported.
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