Sudan meningitis outbreak
(Reuters)
Updated: 2007-01-21 21:44
JUBA, Sudan - At least 1,000 people have died in one week in south Sudan's Warap state from meningitis and another unknown disease, state governor Anthony Bol Madut said in a statement sent to Reuters on Sunday.
Emerging from Africa's longest civil war, south Sudan's infrastructure is almost non-existent and outbreaks of disease are frequent. A cholera outbreak last year killed 147 people.
"There is an outbreak of meningitis and (an) unknown disease spreading fast throughout the state and there is fear it may affect other neighbouring states," Madut's statement said.
He said the symptoms of the second disease were similar to yellow fever, but the patient died quickly. He appealed for medical experts to come to diagnose the disease and help stop the spread of the outbreak.
"Up to this time the death toll is over 1,000 this week alone," the statement said. "As I am writing this press release, I am expecting other death reports sooner or later."
Africa's "meningitis belt" stretches from Senegal to Ethiopia through some of the world's poorest and most war-scarred places, including Sudan. It accounts for more than half the cases of the disease worldwide each year.
Meningitis is an infection of the thin lining that surrounds the brain and spinal cord. It can cause complications including brain damage and deafness. About 5 percent to 10 percent of patients die from the illness, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Hundreds of thousands of southern Sudanese returning home after a January 2005 peace deal with the government in Khartoum are especially at risk because they live in crowded camps where infectious diseases like meningitis thrive.
Warap is one of the poorest states in the south, on the border between north and south Sudan.
WHO officials were not immediately available to comment on the outbreak.
http://www.chinadaily.net/world/2007-01/21/content_788509.htm
|
|
Sudan meningitis outbreak strikes 2,011, kills 17 -WHO
22 Jan 2007 09:09:11 GMT
JUBA, Sudan, Jan 22 (Reuters) - A meningitis outbreak has sweeping through southern Sudan has killed 17 people and infected 2,011, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Monday, adding it had enough vaccines to contain the outbreak.
On Sunday, the governor of south Sudan's central Warap state said in a statement that at least 1,000 people had died in one week in an outbreak of meningitis and another unknown disease.
But Abdullahi Ahmed, head of WHO in south Sudan, said on Monday: "As of Jan. 17 the number of cases was 2,011 of which only 17 died and that includes Central Equatoria states and Warap states."
He said health officials had not confirmed any disease other than meningitis but laboratory tests were under way.
Ahmed said medical workers had enough vaccines to cover the most affected county in Warap state.
South Sudan, after suffering decades of civil war, has little or no infra-structure and is particularly at risk to outbreaks of disease.
Meningitis outbreaks affect Sudan during the dry season, as part of the "meningitis belt" which runs from East to West Africa. It accounts for more than half the cases of the disease worldwide each year.
Meningitis is an infection of the thin lining that surrounds the brain and spinal cord. It can cause complications including brain damage and deafness. About 5 percent to 10 percent of patients die from the illness, according to the WHO.
Hundreds of thousands of southern Sudanese returning home after a January 2005 peace deal are especially at risk because they live in crowded camps where infectious diseases like meningitis thrive.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L22757677.htm
Sudan, West Darfur State IDP camps **
----------------------------------
Between 1 Jan 2006 and 10 Mar 2006, 28 suspected cases including 1 death
(CFR 4 percent) have been reported in IDP camps in Zallingi, West Darfur
State. Following laboratory confirmation of _N. meningitidis_ serogroup
W135 in 2 specimens of cerebrospinal fluid, the ICG has provided 102 375
doses of trivalent ACW vaccine. A mass vaccination campaign will be
implemented this week by the Federal Ministry of Health, with support from
Medecins sans Frontieres, UNICEF and WHO.
Archive Number 20060321.0880
Published Date 21-MAR-2006
Subject PRO/EDR> Meningococcal disease update 2006 (05)
MENINGOCOCCAL DISEASE UPDATE 2006 (05)
**************************************
A ProMED-mail post
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
In this update:
[1] African meningitis belt
[2] Sudan (multistate)
[3] Sudan (IDP camp, West Darfur)
[4] India (Delhi)
*****
[1] African meningitis belt
Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2006
From: Marianne Hopp
Source: WHO Outbreak Report [edited]
During the first 10 weeks of the 2006 meningitis season, outbreaks in 32
districts in 7 countries in the African Meningitis Belt have occurred. In
these affected countries (see table below) a total of 5719 suspected cases,
including 580 deaths, have been reported to WHO. Cases have occurred in 2
foci, 1 in West Africa, affecting Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Mali and
Niger, and characterized by the predominance of _N. meningitidis_ serogroup A.
Outbreaks in the 2nd epidemic foci, in eastern Africa, affecting Kenya,
Sudan and Uganda and are mainly caused by _N. meningitidis_ serogroup W135.
Suspected meningitis cases, deaths, and predominant pathogens reported to
WHO by affected countries in Africa, as of 17 Mar 2006
Country / Cases / Deaths / Predominant Serotype
Burkina Faso * / 3636 / 399 / A
Cote d'Ivoire / 130 / 40 / A
Kenya / 74 / 15 / W135
Mali / 160 / 9 / A
Niger / 614 / 44 / A
Sudan W. Darfur camps ** / 28 / 1 / W135
Sudan other states / 26 / 23 / A
Uganda Gulu district *** / 37 / 5 / W135
Uganda other districts / 514 / 44 / A
Total / 5719 /580
Major vaccination campaigns are currently under way in the following 3
outbreaks:
Burkina Faso*
------------
Between 1 Jan and 5 Mar 2006, 3636 suspected cases including 399 deaths
(case fatality rate, CFR, 11 percent) have been reported. The epidemic
threshold has been crossed in 12 districts. All the 115 specimens of
cerebrospinal fluid found positive for _N. meningitidis_ by latex and/or
culture belonged to serogroup A. The International Coordinating
Group (ICG) on Vaccine Provision for Epidemic Meningitis Control has
provided 1 800 000 doses of bivalent AC vaccine. The vaccination campaigns
in the affected districts are currently being implemented with the support
of WHO and partners, including the European Commission Humanitarian Aid
Department (ECHO), and Medecins sans Frontieres.
Sudan, West Darfur State IDP camps **
----------------------------------
Between 1 Jan 2006 and 10 Mar 2006, 28 suspected cases including 1 death
(CFR 4 percent) have been reported in IDP camps in Zallingi, West Darfur
State. Following laboratory confirmation of _N. meningitidis_ serogroup
W135 in 2 specimens of cerebrospinal fluid, the ICG has provided 102 375
doses of trivalent ACW vaccine. A mass vaccination campaign will be
implemented this week by the Federal Ministry of Health, with support from
Medecins sans Frontieres, UNICEF and WHO.
Uganda, Gulu district ***
---------------------
Between 9 Jan and 5 Mar 2006, 37 suspected cases including 5 deaths (CFR
13.5 percent) have been reported in Internally Displaced Persons (IDP)
camps in Gulu district. Among 7 specimens of cerebrospinal fluid found
positive for _N. meningitidis_ by culture, 4 belong to serogroup W135.
The ICG has provided 360 000 doses of trivalent vaccine. The immunization
campaign, due to start on 22 Mar, will be implemented by the Ministry of
Health, with support from Medecins sans Frontieres, UNICEF and WHO.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
******
[2] Sudan (Multistate)
Date: Sun, 19 Mar 2006
From: ProMED-mail
Source: WHO [edited]
A national task force under the chairmanship of the Federal Ministry of
Health together with WHO, UNICEF and NGOs has been established after
reports of outbreaks of meningococcal meningitis in the country.
As of 16 Mar 2006, 526 cases with 23 deaths (case fatality rate of 4.37
percent) have been reported across the country. The epidemic thresholds in
4 States (Blue Nile, Gedaref, Kassala and South Kordofan) have, so far, been crossed.
Cultures conducted at NAMRU-3, a WHO collaborating centre in
Cairo, have isolated the _Neisseria meningitidis_ serogroup A as the
causative strain for the outbreak of meningococcal meningitis. Mass
vaccination campaigns with bivalent vaccines (A/C) are continuing in South
Kordofan as well as in Gedaref State. 2 vaccination campaigns have already
been completed in the Blue Nile and in Kassala States.
Another outbreak of meningococcal meningitis disease caused by _Neisseria
meningitidis_ serogroup W135 has been confirmed (by laboratory culture) in
the Hamadyia IDP camp in Zalingei in West Darfur and as of 10 Mar 2006, 28
cases of meningococcal meningitis disease and 1 death (case fatality rate
of 3.57 percent) have been reported to WHO through the Early Warning and
Alert Response Surveillance (EWARS) system of Darfur.
The national task force is coordinating the public health response to the
outbreak and WHO requested trivalent vaccines (ACW) from the Internal
Coordination Group (ICG) for the outbreak in Darfur. The request was
approved and the vaccines have arrived in Khartoum. The vaccination
campaign is expected to start later this week.
WHO Sudan is providing technical guidance for outbreak control and case
management of the disease in addition to drugs and other emergency supplies for outbreak investigation.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
[3] Sudan (IDP camp, West Darfur)
Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2006 09:21:16 -0500
From: George Robertson
Source: African News Dimension [edited]
A vaccination campaign against meningitis will start this week in western
Sudan following the confirmation of an outbreak in Hamadyia camp for
internally displaced persons in Zalinger, West Darfur, said the WHO on Sun,
19 Mar 2006.
Some 28 cases of meningitis and one death had been reported through an
early-warning system by 10 Mar 2006, WHO said in a statement. The disease
had also been reported in other regions of Sudan. As of 16 March, 526 cases with 23 deaths had been reported countrywide, including in Blue Nile,
Gedaref, Kassala and South Kordofan States.
Mass vaccination campaigns were going on in South Kordofan and Gedaref
while 2 campaigns had been completed in Blue Nile and Kassala.
A task force chaired by the Sudanese health ministry, together with WHO,
the UN Children's Agency (UNICEF) and nongovernmental organisations is
coordinating the response to the outbreak.
In Feb 2006, WHO reported more than 100 cases of suspected meningitis,
including 15 fatalities, in 6 Sudanese states, including Khartoum, Blue
Nile, Kassala, Sennar, West Darfur and Gedaref.
Sudan is considered part of the "African meningitis belt", a group of
countries particularly vulnerable to the disease. In 2005, 3703 people were
infected in 14 Sudanese states, of whom 124 died.
--
George A. Robertson
http://www.promedmail.org/pls/promed/f?p=2400:1202:234912270835400952::NO::F2400_P1202_ CHECK_DISPLAY,F2400_P1202_PUB_MAIL_ID:X,32425
Edit: see more reports from last year from Sudan (Meningitis and BF) here:
http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=489
(Corrects number of meningitis cases throughout to 211 from 2,011)
JUBA, Sudan, Jan 22 (Reuters) - A meningitis outbreak sweeping through southern Sudan has killed 17 people and infected 211, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Monday, adding it had enough vaccines to contain the outbreak.http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L22757677.htm
(Updates with Warap state governor comment, health ministry)
JUBA, Sudan, Jan 22 (Reuters) - A meningitis outbreak sweeping through southern Sudan has killed 17 people and infected 211, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Monday, adding it had enough vaccines to contain the outbreak.
"As of Jan. 17 the number of cases was 211 of which only 17 died and that includes Central Equatoria states and Warap states," said Abdullahi Ahmed, head of WHO in south Sudan.
He said health officials had not confirmed any disease other than meningitis but laboratory tests were under way.
Ahmed said medical workers had enough vaccines to cover the most affected county in Warap state.
On Sunday, the governor of south Sudan's central Warap state said in a statement that at least 1,000 people had died in one week in an outbreak of meningitis and another unknown disease.
On Monday Governor Anthony Bol Madut dismissed the WHO figures, saying there was a serious health crisis in his region.
"This is a lie -- there are hundreds dying in just one area," he told Reuters from Wau town in south Sudan where he was meeting U.N. officials to mobilise relief efforts.
"They are not on the ground -- this is an emergency there are people dying every day," he said.
John Rumunu, director for preventative medicine in south Sudan's Ministry of Health, also questioned the WHO numbers.
"What our (WHO) colleagues are reporting are cases that have been presented to health facilities but we don't know what's happening in communities," Rumunu said.
"Health coverage is only of about 25 percent of the population in southern Sudan," he told Reuters.
South Sudan, after suffering decades of civil war, has little or no infra-structure and is particularly at risk to outbreaks of disease.
Meningitis outbreaks affect Sudan during the dry season, as part of the "meningitis belt" which runs from East to West Africa. It accounts for more than half the cases of the disease worldwide each year.
Meningitis is an infection of the thin lining that surrounds the brain and spinal cord. It can cause complications including brain damage and deafness. About 5 percent to 10 percent of patients die from the illness, according to the WHO.
Hundreds of thousands of southern Sudanese returning home after a January 2005 peace deal are especially at risk because they live in crowded camps where infectious diseases like meningitis thrive.
Madut said he and a group of 14 doctors from the north Sudan Sennar state would travel on Tuesday to the most affected areas.
"But they don't have enough vaccines and we are appealing for more," he said.
Thu Dec 28, 2006 4:50 PM GMT
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/articlenews.aspx?type=reutersEdge&storyID=2006-12-28T165039Z_01_ZWE860628_RTRUKOC_0_AFRICA-MENINGITIS.xml&pageNumber=3&imageid=&cap=&sz=13&WTModLoc=NewsArt-C1-ArticlePage1
By Naomi Schwarz
DAKAR (Reuters) - A young girl, unconscious by the time her mother brought her to a rural clinic in southern Burkina Faso, had the classic symptoms of meningitis: fever, stiffness, vomiting.
With treatment, doctors hoped to be able to save her life although she may be permanently disabled: deafness, epilepsy or paralysis are among the effects of the disease.
This latest outbreak in the remote Leraba region bordering Ivory Coast triggered alarms far away in the capital, Ouagadougou, amid fears of another epidemic wave of the disease.
In the the arid Sahel region south of the Sahara, every year from December through May thousands of people, many of them children, get meningitis. Up to one in 10 who contract the disease die.
Africa's "meningitis belt", stretching from Senegal to Ethiopia through some of the world's poorest and most war-scarred places including Sudan's Darfur, accounts for more than half the cases of the disease worldwide each year.
Climate conditions such as dust wind and cold nights increase the risk of the illness along with overcrowded living and the movement of large populations.
Now health workers using high-tech methods to diagnose, control and even predict the disease hope to reduce its grim toll.
They say a new low-cost vaccine, lasting longer than those currently available, could be available as soon as 2009. A new test should make diagnosis quicker. And by studying the climate, they hope to be able to tell in advance where the disease will hit, and intervene before the first patient gets sick.
Experts say the new vaccine could eradicate meningitis from a community in much the same way that sustained vaccinations have all but wiped out polio worldwide.
"That is going to change the face of epidemic meningitis in the region," said William Perea, a World Health Organization meningitis expert.
NEW EPIDEMIC
Meningitis cases in the region reached a 20-year low in 2005. But then by April 2006, more than 30,000 had been reported to the WHO -- five times as many as the previous year.
The pattern is typical. Since the 1970s, there have been meningitis epidemic waves every decade or so, each lasting three to four years.
Experts say last year's surge signals the start of another major epidemic in the Sahel region. In a worst-case scenario, according to WHO estimates, there could be as many as 160,000 cases in the next two years.
Meningitis is an infection of the thin lining that surrounds the brain and spinal cord. It is caused by different bacteria but when diagnosed early and treated with antibiotics many patients recover fully.
It can cause complications including brain damage, deafness and learning problems. About 5-10 percent of patients die from the illness, according to the WHO.
It is an infectious illness that is spread by sneezing, coughing and living in close quarters. Early symptoms include a stiff neck, headache, fever and sensitivity to light.
Health workers across the meningitis belt report cases to a central agency, in cooperation with the WHO, every week.
"In a district of fewer than 30,000 people, we try to compare the figures from two weeks," said Salam Sanne, director of emergency medicine in Burkina Faso for Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF -- Doctors Without Borders), who helped treat the girl.
"If there are two cases, and next week there are four, then we consider it an epidemic."
When the alarm is raised, medical teams spring into action to supply extra antibiotics and launch a vaccination campaign. But the WHO's Perea said the current system is not enough.
For one thing, it is too slow because vaccines are targeted against specific strains of the disease. Identifying each means first sending a bacteria sample from the patient's spinal fluid to a laboratory: "The whole response may be delayed," he said.
And the current vaccine is not effective enough.
"The current vaccine has a short-lived immunity. In three years there is no more immunity," said Perea.
A quick and simple diagnostic test, now in final trials at Niger's Centre for Medical and Health Research, should help.
"You just put a few drops of the cerebral-spinal fluid in the tube and you put your dipstick inside your tube and about 10 minutes later you will have the result," said Suzanne Chanteau, director of the research team that developed the test.
WATCHING THE DUST
Her team, known by its French acronym CERMES, is also working on improving predictions of where the next outbreak will hit.
"There is a hypothesis that the low humidity in this region and also maybe the dust winds are favourable conditions for the development of infection," Chanteau said.
Researchers use satellite data to track Sahara dust storms and determine the extent of the connection between the dry, dusty air and meningitis.
"We want to have atmospheric conditions categorised and be able to say if ... there are favourable conditions to have meningitis or not," says Isabelle Jeanne, head of the Geographic Information Systems-based project at CERMES.
"The whole time-length will be shortened for intervention," Perea said, adding that vaccines and other new technology should help "eliminate epidemics from the belt".
Meningitis hits Great Bahr Al Ghazal region of Southern Sudan
Source: World Health Organization (WHO)
Date: 10 Apr 2006
Juba, 10 April 2006 - Meningitis attack rates in Southern Sudan have seen a gradual decline in the regions of Gogrial, Tonj and Wau/Marial (1) . In Twic after an initial decline in week 13 there has been a slight increase to 4.6 percent. Data for Twic for week 14 is still incomplete so we may see further increases.
In Aweil East and Thieth there have been increases in the attack rate; 10.3 percent and 9.7 percent respectively (figure 1). The drop in attack rates may be partly due to the vaccination campaigns taking place, but due to the lack of vaccine, many areas have only been partially covered.
Underreporting is always a factor in Southern Sudan due to the lack of a strong surveillance system that hinders the accurate and timely reporting.
As of 9 April 2006, a total number of 2,371 cases and 274 deaths with an overall case fatality rate of 11.6 percent were reported from suspected meningitis in Great Bahr Al Ghazal Region of Southern Sudan. All reported cases are from Warap, Northern Bahr Al Ghazal and Western Bahr Al Ghazal states.The 5 counties of, Wau (Western Bahr el-Ghazal State), Aweil East (Northern Bahr el-Ghazal State), Gogrial, Twic and Tonj (Warab State) have an estimated population of 2,956,564.
The causative agent has been identified as Neisseria meningitidis group A in Wau, Gogrial East, Twic and Aweil East counties. Neisseria meningitidis group W135 has also been identified in six CSF samples in Akuem, Aweil East county, by latex agglutination (MSF-F). Further analyses are being done on CSF samples from that location.
Task forces are coordinating actions to strengthen surveillance and reporting system and to uniform case management. There is very limited capacity for active case finding and surveillance in the areas not being covered by INGOs. Health facilities or trained personnel to provide adequate treatment are very scarce and the means of transport/communication almost non-existent. Up to now 3,100 households in the high risk areas have been visited by the hygiene promoters. Mass meningitis immunization campaign started in some of the affected areas and more than 280,000 people have been immunized. Plans are to distribute drugs and vaccines to most affected area.
http://unjobs.org/archive/7826118310...28793231049301 (http://unjobs.org/archive/782611831040548770259613634368028793231049301)
#If you have any other info about this subject , Please add it free.# |