Burkino Faso Meningitis Warden Message

[sharon sanders]

Warden Message: Burkina Faso Meningitis Epidemic

Consular Affairs Bulletins

Sub-Saharan Africa - Burkina Faso
19 Apr 2007
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U.S. Embassy Ouagadougou issued the following Warden Message on April 19:

The U.S. Embassy is issuing this Warden Message to alert you to the meningitis and Avian Influenza situations in Burkina Faso. As you may already know, this year’s cyclical meningitis outbreak has been particularly severe. According to the Ministry of Health of the Government of Burkina Faso, as of April 4, there already have been 19,549 cases of meningitis, 1,337 of which have resulted in death. These totals significantly exceed those of the last major outbreak in 1996. The World Heath Organization estimates that an average of 4,000 new cases of meningitis and 200 related deaths will occur weekly until the end of the forecast epidemic in late May.

American Citizens should confirm that their meningitis A, C, Y, and W135 inoculations are up to date. Further information on meningitis can be found on the World Health Organization (WHO), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website. Information on vaccinations and other health precautions, such as safe food and water precautions and insect bite protection, may be obtained from the CDC’s hot line for international travelers at 1-800-CDC-INFO (1-877-232-4636), fax 1-888-232-3299, or via CDC’s Internet website. For information on local providers of vaccines, please contact the U.S. Embassy, consular section, at 50-30-67-23.

Although no new cases of Avian Influenza have been discovered in Burkina Faso for several months, the U.S. Embassy continues to advise Americans to avoid poultry farms and markets, avoid contact with visibly sick or dead birds and any raw poultry. You can also minimize risk by practicing safe handling procedures for all poultry products, including thoroughly cooking food and decontaminating cutting boards and kitchen utensils. Well-cooked eggs and poultry products are safe to consume (temperatures above 70 degrees Celsius kill the virus). You should also be cautious about consuming salad dressings and sauces that contain raw egg products.

Current information about avian influenza A (H5N1) and pandemic influenza can be found at:

http://www.cdc.gov/flu/avian/gen-info/qa.htm
http://www.cdc.gov/travel
http://www.who.int
http://www.pandemicflu.gov

 

[Treyfish]

Re: Burkino Faso Meningitis Warden Message

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=741 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top width=599><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=599 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>The latest from the WHO site. Meningococcal disease in Burkina Faso - update 2
17 April 2007
From 1 January to 8 April 2007, the Ministry of Health of Burkina Faso reported 22 255 suspected cases including 1490 deaths (case-fatality rate, 7%). Thirty-four districts are currently over the epidemic threshold. Cerebrospinal fluid specimens from all affected areas have tested positive for Neisseria meningitidis serogroup A by latex test and/or culture.
To date, vaccination campaigns have been completed in 15 districts in which 100% of the targeted population of 2.7 million people have been reached. This includes one million people in the capital, Ouagadougou. Vaccination campaigns are still on-going in a further 6 districts. The bivalent vaccine has been secured from The International Coordinating Group (ICG) on Vaccine Provision for Epidemic Meningitis Control, as well as from the security stockpiles held by the Ministry of Health of Burkina Faso.
The recent appeal for financial support for the vaccination campaigns has been positively received by the international community. Contributions have been forthcoming from European Commission Humanitarian Aid Department (ECHO), Medicos del Mundo, M?decins sans Fronti?res (MSF), Plan Burkina, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), UNICEF, the UN Central Emergency Response Fund , and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which will enable Burkina Faso to finance all necessary vaccination campaigns.:tiphat:

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>http://www.who.int/csr/don/2007_04_17/en/index.html</TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=5><!-- include ftr--></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

 

[Treyfish]

Re: Burkino Faso Meningitis Warden Message

[1] Burkina Faso
Date: Fri 27 Apr 2007
Source: News24 [edited]
<http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/News/0,,2-11-1447_2105441,00.html>


A meningitis epidemic that has claimed 1625 lives in the impoverished
west African nation of Burkina Faso since January 2007 has slowed,
the health ministry said on Thu 26 Apr 2007.

"The situation as of 18 Apr 2007 is the following: there have been a
total of 24 633 cases recorded and the number of deaths is 1625,"
said a report from the national committee managing the fight against
the disease. It also said that the epidemic was active in 6 districts
as opposed to 30 a month earlier [March 2007], and the death rate had
dropped from 8 percent in March 2007 to 6.6 percent so far in April
2007.

Meningitis is still plaguing the northern regions of Dori and
Gorom-Gorom, central Yako, and Sapouy in the south, and Kongoussi in
the east but the capital Ouagadougou has been taken off the list of
epidemic-hit zones, the report said.

Although Burkina Faso has by far the largest number of cases, Benin,
Chad, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, and Togo have also
been affected to differing degrees.

--
Contributed by:
ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>

[A map of Burkina Faso and its 45 provinces showing the capital city
of Ouagadougou in the central part of the country can be found at
<http://www.un.org/Depts/Cartographic/map/profile/burkina.pdf>. - Mod.LL]:tiphat:

http://tinyurl.com/2up388