Health officials in Chad are gearing up to vaccinate hundreds of thousands of people against meningitis, which as of 14 April had killed 102 of 871 people infected in 2009, the health minister says.
Chad’s Health Ministry and the World Health Organization (WHO) have asked WHO’s International Coordinating Group on Vaccine Provision for Epidemic Meningitis Control for vaccines against the potent W 135 strain, Nedardoum Apollos, WHO epidemiologist in Chad, told IRIN.
“We last saw W 135 in Chad about 10 years ago,” Chad’s Health Minister Ngombaye Djaïbé told IRIN. The presence of W 135 is “very worrying,” he said. “It is highly virulent and the vaccine is expensive.”
In the coming days health officials and aid workers plan to begin vaccinating – one million people for W 135 and two million for A, Health Minister Djaïbé said.
Of 12 identified serogroups of the meningitis bacteria, four – Neisseria meningitidis A, B and C and W 135 – are recognised to cause epidemics, WHO says.
Up to 2002 the W 135 strain broke out only in sporadic cases in Africa, but that year it affected 14,453 people and killed 1,743 in Burkina Faso, according to WHO.
Health Minister Djaïbé declared a meningitis epidemic in Chad on 14 April. Health ministry officials told IRIN that to date infections have been reported in the regions of Chari Baguirmi, Mandoul and Tandjilé, and in parts of the capital N’djamena.
Djaïbé said the lethality rate is lower than in previous epidemics in Chad “thanks to the treatment and medicines now more widely available with the help of partner organisations.”
Fatimé Djibrine, who works in the pediatric unit of Liberty Hospital in N’djamena, told IRIN: “We saw just one case of meningitis in this unit in January, then nine cases in February, with one death.” She said people must rush to the nearest health centre for antibiotic treatment at the first signs of the illness, which include stiff neck, high fever, headaches and sensitivity to light.
Meningitis, which attacks the brain and spinal column, is transmitted through droplets of respiratory or throat secretions, according to WHO. The disease is endemic across the Sahel region from Senegal in the west to Ethiopia in the east.
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Chad’s Health Ministry and the World Health Organization (WHO) have asked WHO’s International Coordinating Group on Vaccine Provision for Epidemic Meningitis Control for vaccines against the potent W 135 strain, Nedardoum Apollos, WHO epidemiologist in Chad, told IRIN.
“We last saw W 135 in Chad about 10 years ago,” Chad’s Health Minister Ngombaye Djaïbé told IRIN. The presence of W 135 is “very worrying,” he said. “It is highly virulent and the vaccine is expensive.”
In the coming days health officials and aid workers plan to begin vaccinating – one million people for W 135 and two million for A, Health Minister Djaïbé said.
Of 12 identified serogroups of the meningitis bacteria, four – Neisseria meningitidis A, B and C and W 135 – are recognised to cause epidemics, WHO says.
Up to 2002 the W 135 strain broke out only in sporadic cases in Africa, but that year it affected 14,453 people and killed 1,743 in Burkina Faso, according to WHO.
Health Minister Djaïbé declared a meningitis epidemic in Chad on 14 April. Health ministry officials told IRIN that to date infections have been reported in the regions of Chari Baguirmi, Mandoul and Tandjilé, and in parts of the capital N’djamena.
Djaïbé said the lethality rate is lower than in previous epidemics in Chad “thanks to the treatment and medicines now more widely available with the help of partner organisations.”
Fatimé Djibrine, who works in the pediatric unit of Liberty Hospital in N’djamena, told IRIN: “We saw just one case of meningitis in this unit in January, then nine cases in February, with one death.” She said people must rush to the nearest health centre for antibiotic treatment at the first signs of the illness, which include stiff neck, high fever, headaches and sensitivity to light.
Meningitis, which attacks the brain and spinal column, is transmitted through droplets of respiratory or throat secretions, according to WHO. The disease is endemic across the Sahel region from Senegal in the west to Ethiopia in the east.
np/dd/aj
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
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