Twelve die as meningitis spreads

At least 12 people have died since January from a meningitis outbreak that has spread from northeastern Uganda to Kenya's West Pokot district, health officials said on Wednesday. "So far we have recorded 57 cases, with 12 fatalities," said Thomas Ogaro, head of the communicable disease division of the Kenya Ministry of Health. "These are preliminary findings and we are sending a team to assess the true magnitude of the outbreak." "This area neighbours Nakapiripirit district in Uganda, which is suffering from the disease - movement across the border is very free," he added. Ogaro said many of the cases were in remote, inaccessible areas of West Pokot - located 500 km northwest of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi - and added that the situation had been exacerbated by the ongoing drought in the region. "We have sent drugs for treatment and are planning to vaccinate the population to prevent further spread of the disease," he said. "We have requested WHO [the UN World Health Organization] for 270,000 doses of the vaccine." Ugandan officials have recorded more than 300 cases of meningitis in the country's northeastern region of Karamoja - made up of the districts of Kotido, Moroto and Nakapiripirit - since the beginning of the year. "Two hundred and eighty-eight cases have been recorded in Nakapiripirit district, with 20 deaths, while 42 have been recorded in neighbouring Moroto district, with three deaths," said Sam Okware, director of health services in Uganda's health ministry. The government, WHO and other international bodies have sent teams to the area to back up the local medical staff in efforts to stem the spread. "We have embarked on a universal immunisation of all people in Nakapiripirit and Moroto districts. By Monday, we had immunised everybody in Nakapiripirit and we are moving to Moroto. We are targeting 300,000 in the two districts," he added. Okware said the affected districts lay in a "meningitis belt" that runs from Somalia to West Africa, where outbreaks occur every year when there is a dry spell. He said, however, that it was not known where the current outbreak originated. Meningitis is an infection of the thin lining that surrounds the brain and the spinal cord. The bacteria are transmitted through droplets of respiratory or throat secretions. Symptoms include a stiff neck, high fever, sensitivity to light, confusion, headaches and vomiting.