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After the number of deaths from meningitis increased from eight to ten, the Ghana Health Service said it is continuing monitoring to determine the true pathogen causing the epidemic in the Upper West Region.
The goal, according to Dr. Franklyn Asiedu Bekoe, Director of Public Health of the Ghana Health Service, is to reduce the overall number of cases.
Ghana lies inside the meningitis belt, while the disease is endemic there; cases are concentrated in the three northern regions, particularly the Upper West Region. Out of more than 300 probable cases, the Region reported 44 deaths in 2020.
As of March 19, 2024, the number of suspected cases in the Region has increased from 81 to 110, and the death toll from the sickness has increased from eight last month to ten. People are urged not to self-medicate and to cease presuming that all fevers are caused by malaria.
According to Dr. Franklyn Asiedu-Bekoe, the actual bacterium causing the stress pneumonia in recent cases has not yet been identified.
“The system has selected more than 110 possible cases, and we are attempting to choose it case by case. Some have been confirmed by labs and there are 10 deaths recorded over the period from November to March. In 2020, we had an outbreak in Upper West Region that also had a similar effect, but this one is on a minimal scale” he stated.
A few days ago, the Region organized an emergency regional committee meeting whereby certain measures were implemented. We are currently examining how low the statistics are. As you are aware, we sent out a notice a few months ago. The nationwide advisory, which stated that fevers should be treated for reasons other than malaria and may even be meningitis, advised people to attend hospitals and refrain from self-medicating. It was not specific to the Upper West.
These are the steps we are doing in an effort to keep up our monitoring in search of the virus that is causing the illness or illnesses. If it’s a meningitis and its vaccine-prone, then we will need to get them vaccines but for what we are having is not the vaccine prone cases,’’ he explained.
Meningitis typically strikes between November and April, when high temperatures are predicted. However, this year’s unusually high temperatures are a result of climate change.
The meninges, which are the membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, are infected and inflamed. Numerous microorganisms, such as viruses, fungi, and bacteria, can cause it.
According to estimates, Ghana’s meningitis death rate might be anywhere between 36% and 50%.
Source: Ghanatodayonline.com
