Cerebrospinal Meningitis outbreak in Nigeria kills at least 745 people

 It has been reported that Nigeria's meningitis outbreak has killed not less than 745 people as of Monday, an increase of more than 50% in about a
week, Health officials said Wednesday, sounding the caution over the feared epidemic.

“Now we need all hands on deck,” Chikwe Ihekweazu said, the head of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control as the federal government announced the current toll from the epidemic outbreak, which has recorded children as most vulnerable.

The sudden outburst of Cerebrospinal Meningitis incidents is concentrated in northern part of Nigeria,  a meeting was convened  for governors and traditional authorities from all states in the region.

“State governors strongly stated again their commitment to provide immediate and concrete actions towards halting the outbreak,” said the statement after the convened meeting, held in association with the health ministry and some national agencies.

More than 8,000 suspected cases of the disease have been reported nationwide over the past 5  months, some 93% of these cases occurred in 5 northern states, a statement said. The new death toll has seen a rise of about 52% on last week’s total death toll of 489.

The mass outbreak has affected children mostly, which has called for a large-scale vaccination programme.

Cerebrospinal Meningitis (CSM) is caused by different types of bacteria, 6 of which can cause epidemics.

The mode of transmission for CSM is through coughs and sneezes and facilitated by cramped or overcrowded living conditions and close contact.

It causes acute inflammation of the outer layers of the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord), the common symptoms are fever, headache and neck stiffness.

The federal Republic of Nigeria lies in the so-called meningitis belt of the sub-Saharan, starting from Senegal in the west to Ethiopia in the eastern part of the continent, where outbreaks of the disease occurs regularly. 

The 5 northern states mostly affected by this outbreak includes Katsina, Zamfara, Sokoto, Niger and  Kebbi.

The federal government said that raising awareness of the disease among the people was very necessary and crucial.

“The traditional authorities also much committed to continued in awareness-creation in their respective communities and jurisdictions,” it said.

All measures to counter the outbreak is being coordinated by the Cerebrospinal Meningitis National Emergency Operations Centre (NCDC), and it has a rapid response medical teams across the affected regions.

“We're much grateful to all our rapid response team members, not excluding the federal government agencies and partners staff who have remained at their various field posts, throughout the Easter holidays working to ensure that the outbreak is  control,” John Oladejo, incident manager said.