Meningitis: Friends of Kebbi students narrate experiences

Gwandu Local Government Area is the epicenter of Meningitis outbreak in Kebbi State with a record of 25 casualties out of the 56 deaths so far recorded since the outbreak of the disease in five local government areas of the state. The first 26 deaths recorded during the suspected stage of the disease were in […]

Gwandu Local Government Area is the epicenter of Meningitis outbreak in Kebbi State with a record of 25 casualties out of the 56 deaths so far recorded since the outbreak of the disease in five local government areas of the state. The first 26 deaths recorded during the suspected stage of the disease were in three local government areas – Gwandu, Aliero and Jega. As the death toll soars, cases of the CSM were also recorded in Birnin Kebbi and Bunza area of the state.

In every seasonal outbreak of Meningitis, Gwandu and Aliero have always recorded higher number of figures in both death and number of affected persons. This year, cases of CSM in Gwandu and Aliero have been particularly pathetic given the number of persons that have died from the outbreak and a number of others that are still being treated for the disease at the different isolation centres set up by the state government and its development partners, World Health Organisation (WHO), United Nations International Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and others.

Within two weeks, six students of the Kebbi State University of Science and Technology in Aliero died of Meningitis complications. Within that period, 15 others also died of the same ailment in the Gwandu area of the state, which is considered the epicenter of the disease. Some friends of the students who spoke to our correspondent said their deaths were quick, and unexpected within the few days they took ill.

The university community lost six of its students to unconfirmed outbreak of Meningitis. The six students, according to their friends, died one after the other in quick succession. A friend to one of the late students, Isah Kalgo, said it was Olasoji Samuel Timileyin, a 400-level student of Architecture that first died of the sickness, followed by Abdulhamid Sadiq Alabi, a 300-level student, while Jibril Tanko, a 100-level Micro Biology student died after them.

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He said, “Six of them died within a space of two weeks. It was a terrible experience. We all wanted to run away from the campus because we could not explain what led to their death until the government confirmed that there was an outbreak of Meningitis. 

“Olasoji Samuel was my friend. We were planning towards graduating from the Department of Architecture this year, but he took ill and died within few days. When the sickness started, no one thought it could take his life because he only complained of Malaria.” 

Abdul Maliki Saa’du also said that like Samuel, five other students were taken to the school clinic, where they were treated for an unknown sickness, which was later confirmed to be meningitis. He added that they died while on treatment.

“It was painful; we lost six of our friends within two weeks. They didn’t show any sign that the sickness could kill them. We became terrified by the manner they died one after another. Something that started like Malaria turned out to kill them within a space of two weeks,” Saa’du said.

In response to the incidents, the university’s management, under the leadership of Professor B.G. Dansheh, said it had set up a specialised committee led by the provost of the College of Health Sciences, Professor Balarabe Adamu Isah, to conduct a thorough investigation, in collaboration with health authorities, while the situation was reported to the State Ministry of Health and the Ministry for Higher Education.

“We brought in key figures, representatives from the World Health Organisation, United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and other health sector experts in a collaborative approach to ensure a comprehensive strategy to address the situation,” Dansheh said.

​The school management said the state government had provided immediate funding to the Ministry of Health to contain the outbreak and facilitate effective medical interventions, ​as well as assigned two more medical personnel to the school clinic’s medical team.

“To ensure the availability of essential medications and hand sanitisers at the university clinic and support preventive and curative efforts, the school Sanitation Committee has intensified efforts to maintain cleanliness across the campus and all measures to improving ventilation, reducing the risk of further infections. Our thoughts and prayers are with the affected families during this trying time,” the school management said.

Also, the father of a seven-year-old girl, Maryam Suleiman, who died in the Gwandu area of the state, also expressed shock at the death of his daughter. He said two of his family members were still being treated at the isolation centre of the general hospital.

He said it all started about a week ago when his daughter suddenly started vomiting and running high temperature. 

“Two days after, we noticed that her condition was not improving as we had expected, so we took her to the hospital, where she was treated. But surprisingly, the temperature returned and she started vomiting again. We were making arrangements to return her to the hospital when she died in the afternoon of that day.

“I still have two other family members at the isolation centre here in Gwandu. We are praying that Allah would heal them.  Our local government chairman visited the isolation centre yesterday and told us of the support and assistance from the state government to the affected families. We thank them but want more assistance from them,” he said.

Farouk Abdullahi, a retired civil servant in Gwandu also narrated how his younger brother lost his son to the dreaded disease. He said the boy died within two days of the sickness.

Abdullahi said, “We couldn’t even take him to hospital. It was a sickness of two days and he just died. We were confused. He was not feeling sick before then; it just started like that, and before we could do anything, he was dead.

“Now, the government told us that there’s a strange sickness in town and advised us to keep our environment clean, wash our hands in clean water and never to sleep in congested rooms and where there is no ventilation.”