After a slew of likely contenders such as heart disease, anemia, thyroid disease, depression or a sleep disorder are ruled out, getting to the source of fatigue gets murky. Among the many next-tier suspects is the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV).
Indeed, 2.4 million of those at risk of famine were in southern Sudan, the main arena of the war. Southern Sudan occupies almost one third of the territory of Sudan, which at 2.5 million square kilometers is the largest country in Africa.
Originally it was believed that the drought in the Sahel primarily was caused by humans over-using natural resources in the region through overgrazing, deforestation and poor land management. In the late 1990s, climate model studies suggested that large scale climate changes were also triggers for the drought.