Meningitis breaks out in North Darfur

NAIROBI, March 22, 2005 (IRIN) — A meningitis outbreak has been declared in the North Darfur state of western Sudan, after humanitarian agencies confirmed five cases in an internally displaced persons (IDP) camp in the area, the UN reported on Sunday.

Five people in the Saraf Umra camp had been diagnosed with the disease since 11 January, the UN Advance Mission to Sudan (UNAMIS) said. Twenty-seven other suspected cases in North Darfur, including two deaths, had been reported.

A meningitis vaccination plan for the camp had been developed, and about 160,000 doses of meningitis trivalent vaccine requested from the UN World Health Organisation (WHO) in Geneva.

UNAMIS’s situation report said that vaccines for UN and NGO staff were available at the UN clinic in Khartoum, and the MERT (WHO medical emergency response team) clinics in the three Darfur states.

WHO provided laboratory reagents and supplies for the confirmation of the disease, together with drugs necessary for case management in all of Sudan’s states.

In February, another outbreak of the disease was reported in North Kordofan, central Sudan.

Meningitis is an infection of the meninges, the thin lining that surrounds the brain and the spinal cord. Several different bacteria can cause meningitis; one of the most important being Neisseria meningitidis, because of its potential to cause epidemics.

The bacteria can be transmitted from person to person through droplets of respiratory or throat secretions. Close and prolonged contact – for example kissing, sneezing or coughing on someone, living in close quarters or sharing utensils – facilitates the spread of the disease. The average incubation period is four days, but can range from between two and ten days.

Its most common symptoms are a stiff neck, high fever, sensitivity to light, confusion, headaches and vomiting. Bacterial meningitis may result in brain damage, hearing loss or learning disability in 10 to 20 percent of survivors.