A disease caused by pests has killed three people in Nyimba district.

A bubonic plague has hit Nyimba District killing three people in Kavyeni Village.
Eastern Province Assistant Secretary Beezu Chikuba has confirmed the outbreak of the disease which has also affected 13 other people.
Bubonic plague is caused by bacteria Yersinia pests like rats, locusts or any particular animal through fleas.
Speaking during the Provincial Epidemics Preparedness Prevention Control and Management meeting in Chipata today, Ms. Chikuba says that health workers from Nyimba District health office and some from the provincial health office have already been dispatched to address the situation.
She says that blood samples have been collected from patients and sent to Lusaka awaiting confirmation.
And Ms. Chikuba says that the province recorded a total of 221 cases of dog bites with one death of rabies as of 31st March 2015.
She says that there are threats from diarrhoeal diseases in the province in which 2,195 suspected dysentery cases were reported by the health facilities with three confirmed cases in Katete and Chipata District.
The assistant secretary says that people need to be alert about the cholera and typhoid which has broken out in Mchinji and Kasungu areas in Malawi, especially that the two districts share borders with Eastern Province.