Hundreds die in seasonal meningitis outbreak

As seasonal harmattan winds from the Sahara blow dust clouds over West Africa carrying deadly meningitis, hundreds of people have been reported dead from the disease in the last few weeks. Worst hit has been Burkina Faso, where 246 people have died, according to the medical aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres, and over 2,000 more have fallen ill from the meningitis bacterium, which attacks the brain and spinal chord. Across Burkina Faso’s northern border, 44 people died and 614 people were reported ill between 1 January and 27 February in Niger, according to the National Health Information System, SNIS. And to the south, in war-divided Cote d’Ivoire, the UN children’s agency UNICEF has reported 94 cases and 33 deaths from meningitis. Meningitis is endemic in much of the arid Sahel region of West Africa, with outbreaks most common during the dry season, from January to March. This is when dry sand-laden winds that settle hazily in the sky act as carriers of the meningitis bacteria which can attach to dust particles. The Burkina Faso government plans a major vaccination campaign in the 10 epidemic-hit districts that lie in the west, southwest and north of the country, according to Souleyman Sanou, who is heading the government’s campaign against the illness. “The government has bought one million doses of vaccination which will be given to the population free of charge,” said Sanou, who added that 2 million more vaccines were being sought. However, the director of communications in the ministry of health, Rene Sebgo, said further tests would have to be carried out to determine the strain of meningitis. In 2002, an outbreak of the W135 strain of meningitis afflicted 13,000 people and killed 1,500, according to the World Health Organisation. Many of the cheaper vaccines long used against meningitis are less effective against the W135 strain, according to WHO. Government officials are worried that a weeklong cultural festival due to begin in the country’s second city Bobo-Dioulasso, which lies in the heart of the meningitis outbreak area, could assist in the spread of the disease. The thousands of artists and attendees due to flock to the bi-annual event that begins 26 March have been advised to get shots eight to 10 days before travel. In Niger, the most badly hit area is Maradi, some 650 km east of Niamey, where 31 have died and 514 have been registered with meningitis, SNIS said. The government has dispatched 30,000 vaccines as well as medicine for more than 900 patients while Medecins Sans Frontieres has promised 710,000 vaccinations, half of them already in hand. But the Health Ministry says Niger needs three million vaccines as well as enough drugs and syringes to deal with an expected 25,000 cases.