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Over 1200 die as meningitis hits west Africa

April 21 2003 at 10:27AM

Ouagadougou - Meningitis has killed more than 900 people in the impoverished West African country of Burkina Faso this year, bringing the regional death toll to around 1200, health officials said.

Burkina Faso's health ministry said late on Friday that 908 deaths had been registered over 14 weeks. Meningitis typically strikes in the first months of the year during the dry season.

A total of 6,234 cases have been registered in Burkina Faso since the start of the year, giving a mortality rate of 14.6 percent, the ministry said.

Burkina Faso is among 18 countries in Africa's "meningitis belt" stretching from Senegal in the west to Ethiopia in the east. The disease kills 10 to 50 percent of its victims, and children are especially vulnerable.

Meningitis is transmitted by direct contact. Symptoms include headaches, fever, nausea, vomiting and a stiff neck. Survivors can suffer brain damage.

Last month the poor West African country of Niger said at least 300 people had died from meningitis between January and the end of March.

Health officials said 3,473 cases had been registered by March 31, giving a mortality rate of around nine percent.

Overcrowding and hot, dusty climates favour the spread of the disease. Both Burkina Faso and Niger are poor, landlocked countries on the fringes of the Sahara desert.

Some of those who have died this year were struck by the virulent new W135 strain that devastated 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.

Burkina Faso's government recently said it had acquired 1,5 million doses of vaccine, which can treat three meningitis strains, including W135.

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