AN outbreak of meningitis that is sweeping across Africa has killed at least 3_500 people, the international Red Cross said on Wednesday. “From the Red Sea to the Atlantic Ocean, a total of 38_000 cases have been documented, but many more are likely to have gone unreported,” said the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. A statement said it was the worst outbreak of the disease in the last decade and has caused a serious shortage of vaccine worldwide. The federation provided a million doses of vaccine to Ethiopia last month and is sending 400_000 more to Burkina Faso, one of the centres of the outbreak in West Africa, the statement said.