No meningitis cases confirmed

Health officials and scientists still investigating reports of suspected cases of meningitis in northern Burundi have dismissed any notion of an epidemic, saying there have been no cases of the disease.

"I have received information from people involved in the evaluation that there are cases of suspected meningitis, but at this moment there is no information that would justify to speak about an epidemic," a World Health Organisation (WHO) official in the Burundian capital, Bujumbura, told IRIN on Thursday.

In a report on 1 August, WHO said that while there was neither an epidemic nor any confirmed cases of meningitis, "several communes, where an epidemic might break out, are on a state of alert".

WHO said the health ministry was working closely with it and international NGOs to ensure that "all measures necessary" were taken to avert an epidemic.

Suspected cases of meningitis were reported on 16 July in the provinces of Kirundo, Ngozi and Muyinga. The ministry responded by sending medical teams to investigate take samples from sick people, train medical staff on handling meningitis, set up a disease surveillance system to confirm cases and take appropriate action. WHO, the United Nations Children's Fund, the International Committee of the Red Cross, Medecins Sans Frontieres, the International Medical Corps, Gruppo Volontariato Civile, Handicap International France all helped the ministry in its evaluation effort.

Other measures taken to guard against an outbreak include increased epidemiological surveillance of the area, the dispatch of health teams to strengthen diagnostic capabilities in the concerned provinces, and care for the sick. Additional steps taken were delivery of medical laboratory material, vaccines and chloramphenicol oil to health centres, briefing the public on preventive measures, and strengthening communication between provincial health centres and the health ministry of public health.