People panic as meningitis epidemic spreads

Sudan’s meningitis epidemic has reached “alarming levels” in six states, and vaccine shortages have prevented comprehensive vaccination coverage, IFRC said today. In a statement received by IRIN, IFRC said residents in the worst-affected areas had begun to panic, with streams of people converging on aid agency offices asking to be immunised. A total of 1,762 cases and 233 deaths have been registered since the outbreak was first reported in North Darfur in December. Unless the vaccination campaigns were accelerated, the disease would spread further, the statement said, adding that it had already reached southern Sudan. IFRC, which has appealed for almost one million Swiss francs to help respond to the epidemic, was on “full alert” in 26 states and prepared to assist as necessary, the statement added. Some 45,000 people were affected during the last big meningitis epidemic in Sudan in 1988/89. Financial constraints in the last four years have made it difficult to continue an effective annual vaccination programme to contain and prevent the disease, IFRC said.