Sporadic cases of meningitis, but no outbreak, says MSF

Medecins sans frontieres (MSF)-Belgium has detected meningitis in three persons whom it tested in Koinadugu District, eastern Sierra Leone, MSF-Belgium Head of Mission Tom White told IRIN on Monday. However, he said the current situation was not an "epidemic or outbreak". Cases of the disease, which is endemic to Sierra Leone, are expected at this time of year as the country is going through its dry season, he said.

White said the three patients - aged 7, 8 and 35 years - came from the same family. "All three of them are positive for meningitis," he said.

They had been selected after MSF-Belgium conducted a first fact-finding trip to the eastern villages of Kurunbola and Fankoya, following preliminary reports from local chiefs that 10 people had died from "meningitis-like symptoms". During its 1-4 January mission, the team was able to confirm that at least three people had died of such symptoms.

Chloramphenical, an anti-meningitis drug, has been administered to the three infected people. MSF-Belgium plans to monitor their condition and make regular trips to the area to ensure that the disease is contained, White said. He said his organisation hoped to conduct another mission by the end of the week, and that it was monitoring the situation in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, which sent a team to the area on Monday.

Sierra Leone lies within Africa's meningitis belt, which runs from West Africa to Ethiopia.