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.
South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in July 2011 as the outcome of a 2005 peace deal that ended Africa's longest-running civil war. An overwhelming majority of South Sudanese voted in a January 2011 referendum to secede and become Africa's first new country since Eritrea split from Ethiopia in 1993.