The ministry of health on Saturday issued a warning to Sudanese civilians to avoid crowded places and direct sunlight in a bid to curb the spread of meningitis, which claimed over 2,000 lives in 1999. “We expect more meningitis to occur with the increasing summer heat,” the PanAfrican News Agency (PANA) quoted a ministry statement as saying. It also cited unofficial reports as saying that a sharp rise in temperatures had brought more than 50 deaths in Juba, with fatalities highest among children and the elderly. An official from the WHO confirmed the incidence of meningitis in Sudan - where the disease is endemic and serious outbreaks occur every few years - but said up-to-date information on the number of cases and deaths was not yet available.
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