Meningitis: Death Toll on the increase

Meningitis, since the recent out-break in Nigeria, has been tormenting people especially from the Northern part of the country. The death resulted from the invasion of the fatal disease is said to be on the increase and so far 438 death have been recorded, according to one of the officials. In the statement released by the center,John Oladejo, the incident manager of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, stated that 3,959 suspected cases have been reported as part of the current outbreak, of which 181 cases have been laboratory-confirmed. "A total of 438 deaths (11 per cent of all cases) have been reported from 106 LGAs in 19 states in the country and outbreak response and control activities are ongoing in the State to curtail the outbreak", he added. according to the report, Mass Immunisation has Commence in Zamfara and people have been turning out in large numbers for a mass vaccination exercise against the disease. NCDC has stated that the campaign, which targets 300,000 persons aged 2 - 29 years, started on Thursday in the eight most affected local government areas in Zamfara State, and will continue until Sunday. The statement also stated that the team of experts is tasked with planning, coordinating and implementing an effective vaccination campaign in collaboration with the recently commissioned Meningitis Emergency Operations Centre at NCDC. According to Nigerian Health Ministry, the same outbreak has been reported in neighboring countries such as Niger, Chad, Cameroon, Togo and Burkina Faso. Source: Premium Times