Meningitis claims 500
2003-03-07 09:26
Niamey - The poor West African state of Niger said on Thursday meningitis had killed at least 130 people this year taking the regional death toll from the disease to more than 500 in only two months.
Niger's government said in a statement that 1 172 cases had been recorded by March 3.
At the end of last month neighbouring Burkina Faso, one of 18 countries in the "meningitis belt" which stretches from Senegal in the west to Ethiopia in the east, said meningitis had killed more than 400 people since the start of the year.
Niger said six of the victims in its count had died of the virulent new W135 strain which devasted Burkina Faso last year killing 1 743 people.
The strain is not prevalent in Burkina Faso, or Niger, and was believed to have been brought to West Africa last year by Muslim pilgrims returning from Saudi Arabia.
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 favour the disease.
Both Burkina Faso and Niger are impoverished, land-locked former French colonies on the fringes of the Sahara desert.
Symptoms include headaches, fever, nausea, vomiting and a stiff neck. The disease kills 10 to 50 percent of its victims, most of whom are children. Survivors can suffer brain damage.