Health Journal Entry
Burkina Faso Meningitis Toll Climbs (May 5, 2008)
Map shows the meningitis belt where the disease often spreads in Africa. WHO.
The death toll from meningitis keeps climbing in Burkina Faso. The disease has killed over 800 people in the nation this year. More than 8,000 others are infected, according to the nation's health minister.
The worst hit area is along the border with Ivory Coast. The situation could get even worse in the weeks ahead. The outbreak has now reached the capital Ouagadougou, home to over a million people. More than 300,000 vaccinations have been sent to infected areas.
In 2007, meningitis killed more than 2,000 people in nine African countries. Three-fourths of the victims in Burkina Faso.
Meningitis is an infection of the tissue and fluid of the spinal cord and brain. Its symptoms include high fever, violent headaches, and vomiting. There are different types of the disease but the bacterial kind is the most dangerous. It can cause brain damage, deafness, or death. It's spread from sneezes or coughs of an infected person.
The disease regularly spreads in Africa in the meningitis belt stretching across sub-Sahara Africa, from Senegal in the west to Ethiopia in the east. It's especially a problem in the dry season when warm winds blow steadily and spread microbes.
