282 Die of Meningitis in 5 States

No fewer than 282 Nige­rians have died from the fresh outbreak of Cerebro Spinal Meningitis (CSM) in five states of the fed­eration.
The figure was made pub­lic on Thursday in Abuja by the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu.
In an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Ihekweazu said that 1,966 suspected cases had been recorded while 109 have been confirmed since the outbreak of the disease in February in the country.

He said that the centre had deployed a response team to the affected states to vaccinate the residents and control the spread of the disease.
According to him, Zamfara has the highest number of con­firmed cases of 44, followed by Katsina with 32, Sokoto 19, Ke­bbi 10 and Niger four.
He also said that there is an inter-agency response support­ing the states to contain the outbreak through the primary mode of vaccination.
However, Ihekweazu ex­plained that a new strand of meningitis called “stereotype C” has emerged in place of the previous known type “stereo­type A”, which has disappeared.
Meanwhile, the Kano State government has strengthened its surveillance after recording cases of CSM and Lassa Fever in some local government areas.
The Commissioner for Health, Dr. Kabiru Getso, told newsmen that the government has taken urgent measures to ensure proper control.
He said that 20 suspected cases of meningitis were re­ported in eight LGAs, with only four of the cases being confirmed.
He listed the councils as Dala, Tarauni, Municipal, Tu­dun Wada, Gwale, Bebeji, Un­gogo and Kumbotso.