Meningitis kills 400 in Burkina Faso
OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (Reuters) -- A meningitis outbreak in the impoverished West African country of Burkina Faso has killed more than 400 people this year so far, health officials said.
A Health Ministry statement published late on Wednesday said 2,433 cases had been reported, giving a mortality rate of 16.4 percent. Last year, 1,743 people died from meningitis out of 14,453 reported cases.
Meningitis usually strikes in the first few months of the year in the dry season. It is transmitted by direct contact. Overcrowding and hot, dusty climates favor the disease.
Meningitis, which has symptoms including intense headaches, fever, nausea, vomiting and a stiff neck, kills between 10 and 50 percent of its victims, most of whom are children. Survivors can suffer brain damage.
Burkina Faso is at the heart of a region dubbed Africa's "meningitis belt" which stretches from Senegal in the west to Ethiopia in the east and comprises 18 countries frequently hit by meningitis epidemics.
Last year, a particular strain of the disease codenamed W135 caused the majority of the deaths. The strain is not usually prevalent in Burkina and was believed to have been brought to the country by Muslim pilgrims returning from Saudi Arabia.
The ministry said the outbreak had reached epidemic proportions -- 10 cases for every 100,000 people in a week -- in five of the country's 53 health districts.
Burkina recently obtained 500,000 vaccines from the World Health Organization which are effective against both the common A and C strains, as well as the W135 version of the disease.
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