Reported meningitis cases being investigated

A team of health officials in Ghana was on Monday deployed by government in the central Brong Ahafo region to investigate reported cases of meningitis, an official told IRIN on Wednesday. Meningitis infection in the area, Sapong Menua, administrator of the government public health division told IRIN, was reported last week by a surveillance unit. Preliminary findings, he added, were awaited on Wednesday but some people were known to have died. The Ghanian Daily Graphic newspaper, on Saturday reported that five people had died from the disease in Gako, Jaman District in Brong Ahafo. Four other people who had contracted the disease were admitted to Sampa Hospital, it added. The paper quoted the regional director of health services, Kofi Asare, as saying that the outbreak could be attributed to the dusty harmattan weather currently sweeping the West Africa region, which had affected people living in poorly ventilated conditions. Ghana lies in what WHO describes as the meningitis belt of sub-Saharan Africa. The disease usually strikes the Sahelian countries each year between January and April when the dry Sahara Desert winds of the harmattan season blow south.