Meningitis outbreak kills over 250 in Burkina Faso

MHSC · Feb 26, 2007

Meningitis outbreak kills over 250 in Burkina Faso

<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="430"><tbody><tr><td class="dates" id="hDate" height="27">Published: Sunday, 25 February, 2007, 09:59 AM Doha Time

</td></tr></tbody></table>OUAGADOUGOU: Burkina Faso has called for international aid to combat a meningitis outbreak which has killed 258 people since the start of the year.

Health Minister Alain Yoda said late on Friday that the government needed 790mn CFA francs ($1.6mn) in immediate aid to help finance a vaccination campaign after the West African country?s stocks ran out.

?I launch a solemn appeal to all the partners of Burkina Faso who have always been by our side that they once more bring us the help we need so we can conquer this epidemic as soon as possible,? Yoda said.

With 2,752 recorded cases, the mortality rate in the latest outbreak was 9.3%, he said.

Yoda called on the World Health Organisation to supply 3.1mn doses of vaccine for the 15 districts at greatest risk.

The bacteria and viruses which cause meningitis, an inflammation of the membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, are often transmitted by coughing or sneezing. People with reduced immunity to disease or malnutrition are more at risk.

A landlocked country in the arid Sahel region just south of the Sahara desert, Burkina Faso ranked as the third poorest country on earth in the United Nation?s 2005 Human Development Index. Half its 13mn people live on less than $1 a day. ? Reuters

http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=134717&version=1&template_id=39&parent_id=21

ruthbeme · Mar 14, 2007

Re: Meningitis outbreak kills over 250 in Burkina Faso

Burkina Faso: Meningitis Spreads Amidst Vaccine Shortage

UN Integrated Regional Information Networks
March 13, 2007
Posted to the web March 13, 2007
Ouagadougou
Despite recent appeals for assistance, health authorities in Burkina Faso say they still lack vaccines to help stem a meningitis epidemic that has already claimed more than 400 lives, mostly children.
"We did everything but we still do not have the vaccine doses," said Sylvestre Tiendrebeogo, a director of the Ministry of Health. "We need 3.5 million doses to cover all the health districts and above all [the capital] Ouagadougou. It is important that we launch a vaccination campaign for all to prevent the epidemic from spreading to all the cities."

Health authorities so far have registered 4,958 cases of meningitis and 432 deaths. This compares with 3,636 cases and 399 deaths during the same period last year.
Tiendrebeogo said the government had 500,000 available vaccines when the epidemic began early this year. It appealed for funds to purchase vaccines in February and this week urgently requested 1.3 million vaccines from the International Coordination Group on Vaccine Provision for Epidemic Meningitis Control (ICG) to launch a mass vaccination campaign in Ouagadougou and other affected districts.
"We're in the meningitis season. It's not unusual that there is this number of cases and we've already had quite a few number of requests for vaccines from the ICG," said Gregory Hartl, a spokesman for the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Geneva. "There will likely be more requests as time goes on."
WHO helped establish the ICG to ensure rapid and equal access to vaccines and medicine to treat the illness after large outbreaks of meningitis in Africa in 1995 and 1996. The ICG also includes Medecins Sans Frontieres, the United Nations children's agency (UNICEF) and other agencies and nongovernmental organisations.
Tiendrebeogo said efforts were underway to work with WHO so that the 1.3 million vaccines requested could be delivered this week. Hartl said countries that request vaccines usually receive them "relatively fast but it depends on logistics" in each particular country.
"We witness children passing away every day," said Desire Ilboudo, who lives on the outskirts of Ouagadougou where the epidemic has it. "You do not hear that they are sick, you just hear a mother's strident cries and you know that something bad had happened."
Health officials have urged family members of patients to stay away from admission rooms at clinics and hospitals to help avoid further spread of the disease. MSF has set up tents on the grounds of Pissy hospital on the outskirts of Ouagadougou to screen potential new cases.
"We have seen cases where relatives of patients came back as sick people because they have been contaminated," Tiendrebeogo said.
West Africa's semi-arid Sahelian countries, sometimes referred to as the "meningitis belt" are hit each year by outbreaks of bacterial meningitis during the dry seasons between December and June. Dust-laden winds along with cold nights combine to lower people's immunity to respiratory tract infections, which makes it easier to contract meningitis.
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Hartl of WHO said four countries - Burkina Faso, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda - are currently experiencing the worst epidemics among African countries that have been hit this year. Other affected countries include C?te d'Ivoire, Niger, Mali, Benin, Ghana, Togo and Guinea.
Typically, five to 10 percent of meningitis patients die within 24 to 48 hours of the first symptoms, while 10 to 20 percent of survivors suffer brain damage, hearing loss, and learning disabilities.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200703130991.html

Snowy Owl · Mar 14, 2007

Re: Meningitis outbreak kills over 250 in Burkina Faso

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Burkina Faso: Meningitis Vaccines Approved for Epidemic
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks
Ouagadougou
http://allafrica.com/stories/200703141065.html

Burkina Faso is set to receive 3.3 million vaccines against bacterial meningitis to help stem an epidemic currently sweeping the country.

The International Coordination Group on Vaccine Provision for Epidemic Meningitis Control (ICG) approved Burkina Faso's request for the vaccines on Tuesday, William Perea, the head of the World Health Organisation's (WHO) meningitis programme, told IRIN on Wednesday.

He said the vaccines would arrive in the country in the coming week.

The ICG already delivered 530,000 doses of vaccines after the government made a request on 16 February. It requested another 1.2 million vaccines on Monday, but Perea said that request was modified to 3.3 million doses after reports that the outbreak had hit the capital, Ouagadougou.

The epidemic in Burkina Faso has claimed 432 lives among 4,958 cases.

Other African countries are also in the midst of epidemics, including Sudan, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Other countries with outbreaks include C?te d'Ivoire, Niger, Mali, Benin, Ghana, Togo and Guinea.

Perea said M?decins Sans Fronti?res (MSF), the United Nations children's agency (UNICEF) and WHO have stepped in to provide some of the funding for the vaccines destined for Burkina Faso, but money was still needed to pay for about one million of the vaccines as well as the operational costs of delivering them.

WHO helped establish the ICG to ensure rapid and equal access to low-cost vaccines and medicine to treat meningitis after major outbreaks in 1995 and 1996. The ICG is managed by WHO, MSF, UNICEF and the International Federation of the Red Cross. Other agencies provide expertise and technical advice.

The ICG provides vaccines prior to payment.

Governments purchase the polysaccharide A and C vaccines currently being used in Africa at about 66 US cents per dose.

The same vaccines purchased on the open market at pharmacies in Burkina Faso and other African countries can cost the equivalent of $14 or more, far more than most Africans can afford.

For some strains of meningitis no vaccine is available.

To receive vaccines from ICG, Perea said a country must provide evidence that an outbreak is ongoing and that a given district has crossed the epidemic threshold.

It must also convey the number of people at risk, the age distribution and the size of the population. Then a laboratory must confirm the strain of the epidemic, Perea said.

"We have received all that from Burkina Faso," he said. "[The country] is very good at providing epidemiological data."

West Africa's semi-arid Sahelian countries, sometimes referred to as the "meningitis belt" are hit each year by outbreaks of bacterial meningitis during the dry seasons between December and June.

Dust-laden winds along with cold nights combine to lower people's immunity to respiratory tract infections, which makes it easier to transmit and contract meningitis.

"As soon as the rain starts the whole thing fades away," Perea said.

Typically, five to 10 percent of meningitis patients die within 24 to 48 hours of the first symptoms, while 10 to 20 percent of survivors suffer brain damage, hearing loss, and learning disabilities.

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ruthbeme · Mar 14, 2007

Re: Meningitis outbreak kills over 250 in Burkina Faso

That's wonderful news.

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Meningitis outbreak kills over 250 in Burkina Faso

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