Children are the worst
hit in the outbreak of meningitis in Zamfara State as hospitals and health care
centres in the state struggle to keep up with the rising number of cases.
In
the centres our correspondent visited on Saturday in the state capital, Gusau,
several meningitis patients, especially children, lay on bare floors outside
the premises of hospital wards, which have run out of bed-spaces.
Several
health workers told SUNDAY PUNCH that the primary health centres in
the state were overwhelmed due to the outbreak, noting that cases have
continued to rise owing to a combination of factors, including the lack of bed
spaces at the centres and general hospitals, lack of facilities and shortage of
medical personnel to handle the outbreak in the state.
At
the Shehu Shagari Primary Health Care centre, visited by our correspondent,
many children were seen writhing in pain.
Health
workers said they were overwhelmed by the number of patients they had to treat
daily.
At
one of the hallways opposite the filled meningitis ward, a number of children
aged between 10 and 13 lay motionless, surrounded by their worried loved ones
who called out to hospital staff to attend to the patients. About an hour
later, one of the health attendants came to administer treatment on two
children gasping for breath.
Our
correspondent gathered that two children had died the previous day, adding to
the number of deaths recorded in the hospital, which had only three doctors to
attend to the patients.
The
doctor in charge of the hospital, Dr. Bashir Ali, was seen attending to
different patients as he could hardly stay in one ward.
“I
cannot speak to you on the issue without an authorization from the state
ministry of health to do so. The directive has to come from the director of
public health,” Ali told reporters.
However,
one of the health workers in the hospital said the number of cases and deaths
had risen in the last three weeks.
At
the Shehu Shagari Hospital, hundreds of children were being given vaccination
for the disease. One of the nurses administering the vaccination said the
vaccines were donated by the World Health Organization only a few days ago.
Similarly,
in the PHC in Kwanta, Gusau, there was no bed-space for patients as some were
seen in the hallways outside the wards.
Our
correspondent also gathered that, unlike Shehu Shagari Hospital, the health
centre had no vaccine supplies.
The
doctor at the centre explained that they did not have enough bed-spaces and
could not cope with the number of patients.
The
doctor noted that the lack of facilities and laboratory at the centre meant
they had to rely on guesswork and symptoms to determine if the patients were
suffering from meningitis or not.
“We
are overwhelmed. As you can see, we don’t have any more bed-space. We are still
awaiting the results of the samples we sent to the ministry of health,” he
said.
It
was the same scenario at the PHC, Damba, in Gusau.
Over
200 persons, mostly children, have been killed by meningitis in the state.
When
contacted, the Secretary to the State Government, Prof. Abdullahi Shinkafi, who
is also the Chairman of the Committee on the Prevention and Control of
Meningitis in the state, told our correspondent that he could not give
accurate figures on the casualties immediately.
“We
will be having a technical review meeting later. Please call me later,” he
said.
Nobody Died Of
Meningitis In Lagos — State Govt
 |
| Dr Jide Idris, 2nd left, addressing news conference |
News Agency of Nigeria reports that the
Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Jide Idris, says alleged death of two from
cerebrospinal meningitis, CSM, in the metropolis was untrue.
The
Nigeria Centre for Diseases Control had on April 7, released statistics which
claimed that CSM killed two people in the state.
The
statistics also indicated that three cases have been recorded in the state so
far.
A
statement signed by the Director, Public Affairs, Adeola Salako on Sunday
quoted the commissioner as saying that the report was false and capable of
causing undue panic.
“The
report carried by some newspapers and online platforms is untrue and does not
represent the reality of the situation in Lagos State as at today.
“For
the avoidance of doubt, there are two main types of meningitis.
“The
epidemic prone meningitis, which is referred to as Cerebrospinal meningitis
(CSM), is caused by a bacteria called Neisseria Meningitides.
“Its
occurrence is seasonal or cyclical, depending on the level of herd
immunity and climatic conditions.
“The second type of meningitis is Non-Epidemic
Meningitis, which is usually caused by a virus or other bacteria, but not by
Neisseria Meningitides.
“The
Non-epidemic meningitis occurs without any seasonal pattern or periodicity,”
Mr. Idris was quoted as saying.
The
commissioner said that a Disease Surveillance Notification Officer in the Lagos
Island Local Government, had sometime in March reported nine suspected cases of
meningitis from Massey Street Children Hospital with two deaths.
He
said, however, that none of these was confirmed as due to CSM.
“Although,
all the nine cases presented with clinical features of meningitis at
that hospital, laboratory tests proved that they were either due to
Haemophilus influenza or Streptococcus pneumoniae and not Neisseria
meningitides.
“The
ministry was also notified last week of a three-year-old boy, presenting
clinically as meningitis at a registered private facility in Lagos, but
the laboratory investigations did not confirm CSM.
“The
blood culture yielded no growth but the urine culture yielded Klebsiella and
not meningococcus; the patient is already responding to treatment.
“None
of these cases, presented with a history of recent travel to any area with an
outbreak of meningitis and neither were visits from such areas recorded with
the aforementioned cases.’’
Mr.
Idris urged the public to observe a high standard of personal and environmental
hygiene as a preventive measure against the outbreak of the disease.
He
said that such hygiene measures should include washing of hands with soap and
water frequently and thoroughly.
“Also,
avoid direct contact with the discharges from an infected person and covering
of mouth and nose when coughing and sneezing.
“It
is strongly advised that people should avoid overcrowding in living quarters,
provide cross ventilation in sleeping and work-rooms and other places where
many people come together.
“People
should get vaccinated with CSM vaccine when they travel to areas where
meningitis outbreaks have been reported.”
Mr.
Idris said people should support the government efforts in its resolve to
prevent the spread of the epidemic to the state.
Such
support, he said, should include by reporting suspected cases to the nearest
public health facility.
“There
is no need to panic; we will continue with our surveillance activities,
constantly review our records and brief the public from time to time.”
In
Borno, the state government said on Sunday that in spite of the extremely hot
weather in the state, it had yet to record any case of cerebro-spinal
meningitis
Haruna
Mishelia, Commissioner of Health, told the News Agency of Nigeria that such a
development was heart-warming and an indication that proactive measures taken,
had been effective.
“We
ensured that the state is prepared to respond to any outbreak, especially
bearing in mind that we share borders with Niger Republic and the increased
population movement, as well as the large concentration of Internally Displaced
Persons (IDPs).
“I
called an emergency meeting of all health partners on Monday, to discuss the
issue and ensure that the state is adequately prepared.
“Various
technical groups were reactivated and responsible agencies identified.
“The
rapid response team will meet weekly to review the update situation in the
state,” he said.
The
commissioner said that based on the outcome of the meeting, a number of actions
were taken to prevent the disease from spreading to the state.
Mr. Mishelia said surveillance teams had also been set up to monitor development in all parts of the state.
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