The death toll of a
Meningitis epidemic in Nigeria has now risen to 269.
TV360
report continues:
Nigeria’s
Centre for Disease Control confirmed this saying that there were fears that the
toll may rise much higher in the coming weeks.
As
of Monday, 1,828 suspected cases of meningitis were reported with 269 deaths in
15 of the country’s 36 states, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC)
said on Twitter late on Tuesday.
International
Aid organizations have joined the Nigerian Government in an attempt to tackle
the surge in infections.
More
than 80 of the deaths occurred in north-western Zamfara state.
While
21 others died of the disease in Sokoto northwest Nigeria.
This
current outbreak of Meningitis is the worst outbreak ever experienced in
Nigeria since 2009.
The
centre said on its website that 33 people died of meningitis in 2016.
More
than 2,000 people died from an outbreak of the disease in Nigeria in 2009, with
basic healthcare limited in rural parts of the country, where most people live
on less than $2 a day, despite the country’s huge oil resources.
Meningitis
is the inflammation of tissue surrounding the brain and spinal cord which can
be caused by viral or bacterial infections.
It spreads mainly through
kisses, sneezes, coughs and in close living quarters.
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