What to know about Meningitis

It is the dry season again, the period during which the country usually experiences cerebrospinal meningitis outbreak. According to the epidemiological report released  by the  Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) last week, the disease has claimed 48 lives since the outbreak commenced in October last year. The report said that a total of 541 […]

It is the dry season again, the period during which the country usually experiences cerebrospinal meningitis outbreak.

According to the epidemiological report released  by the  Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) last week, the disease has claimed 48 lives since the outbreak commenced in October last year.

The report said that a total of 541 suspected cases were reported from 15 states between October 1, 2018 and 27 March, 2019.

Also, the death of eight people from an ailment with symptoms akin to the dreaded Cerebrospinal Meningitis (CSM) in a sleepy community of Leshigbe, Wawa ward in Borgu Local Government Area of Niger State recently has created panic in the state and even beyond.

Family members told the local government officials who raced to the community on a fact-finding mission when the news of the incident filtered in, that the victims all suffered from stiff neck, bulging fontanelle (fontanelle is the soft part of the newborn baby’s skull)  and fast heart beat rate amongst other signs.

The panic heightened when two children showed similar symptoms in Babana axis within the same local government area. Although the children survived what is now referred to as the “strange disease”, the similarity in the symptoms was enough to attract the state Ministry of Health, World Health Organization (WHO) and the National Primary Health Care Development Agency officials to the scenes.

As the tension from the incidents eased, media report last Thursday of the outbreak of meningitis which purportedly claimed eight lives in the same local government area, has triggered another round of panic, especially in the northern axis of the state prone to outbreak.

However, the state and the affected local government officials have come out to say the report of an outbreak is untrue. The Director, Public Health, in the state Ministry of Health, Dr Idris Ibrahim told Daily Trust on phone, yesterday, that the state has not recorded  meningitis outbreak this year, much less mortality in the magnitude quoted in the said report. He, however, confirmed the deaths of eight persons in a community in Borgu local government due to an ailment which cause was yet to be determined.

According to Dr Isah, meningitis is a rare infection that affects the delicate membranes called meninges which cover the brain and spinal cord.

He said the disease has different types but that bacterial meningitis is more life-threatening and spreads between people who are in close contact with each other.

Dr Isah explained that bacteria such as streptococcus pneumoniae causes meningitis with early signs such as fever, stiff neck, headache, nausea and vomiting amongst others.

According to him, the symptoms can emerge suddenly or between 3-7 days.

He said vaccination is critical in preventing the disease, and that antibiotics was essential to its treatment at the early stage.

To prevent the spread of bacterial meningitis and other diseases, he said good personal and environmental hygiene was important. He also advised that people take immediate action by visiting healthcare facilities nearby the moment the signs and symptoms become manifest.

Meanwhile on the purported outbreak in Niger State, the Local Government Immunization Officer, National Progamme on Immunization, Malam Salihu Ahmed, also said there is no outbreak of meningitis in the area. He stated that laboratory analysis from samples taken during the Leshigbe incident conducted at the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) tested negative to meningitis.

He also said that results of further tests of the actual cause of Leshigbe’s deaths were still been awaited at the centre.

The Director Public Health in the State Ministry of Health, Dr Idris Ibrahim foreclosed the possibility of an outbreak, saying the state has taken adequate measures early enough with the emergency operation centres activated across all the local government areas; while surveillance has also been intensified, including active case search across all the wards in the 25 local government areas of the state.

“We have taken preventive measures early enough. We deployed drugs and vaccines as well as put health personnel on high alert. Also, all secondary healthcare facilities, including general hospitals have been stocked with medical supplies and consumables.

“Health education, community sensitisation and mobilisation have also since commenced and town announcements are ongoing at ward level,” he explained.

Despite the assurances, however, there is growing apprehension as the heat intensifies with temperature hovering between 40-42 degrees. Daily Trust observed that quite a number of Minna residents sleep in the open at night, while the General Hospital is inundated with heat related complaints.

The situation is compounded by epileptic power supply. Across Makera area of Minna metropolis, residents are seen spread out on mats until the wee hours of the morning because of the intense heat.

Our correspondent encountered Malam Abdullahi Abubakar and two of his children, Abbas, 10, and Buniyaminu, 13, preparing for a night rest in Limawa quarters at about 10:25 pm last weekend. Few meters away, Malam Nurudeen Umar had also spread out with his six year-old son, Hussain on another mat outside their house.

According to Malam Abdullahi, it would be suicidal to contemplate sleeping in the room with the increasing heat wave. “Even with electricity, it is useless because the fan blows heat and even the water we use to take our bath is hot,” he explained.

He said he feels for the kids because they are more susceptible to meningitis at such time of the year.

Across the state, complaints of intense heat have been widespread with Ministry of Health officials warning against congestion and urging the people to take personal and environmental hygiene seriously.

Over the years, the state had caught news headlines over meningitis outbreaks and consequent deaths.  Local government areas in the northern axis such as Magama, Kontagora, Rijau and Agwara are always prone to CSM outbreak.

However, the state witnessed widespread infections in 2017 across 12 local government areas with 123 cases and 33 deaths recorded within two months. Among them, Magama was the worst hit with 70 cases and 31 deaths with mortality rate more on the part of women and children.

Health officials had attributed the high casualty figure to the reluctance by the people to seek medical attention immediately they developed the symptoms and the tendency to also blame witchcraft for the menace.

A sociologist, Abubakar Abdulkadir, said fear and ignorance played significant roles in blaming every ailment on witchcraft by villagers.