Meningitis has killed about 1 670 people this year in a string of African countries despite an extensive vaccination campaign, the World Health Organisation said on Friday.
The deaths amount to more than a tenth of the 15 595 cases reported in Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Sudan and Uganda, the WHO said in a statement.
In Burkina Faso, 4 958 cases have been reported and 432 deaths.
A mass vaccination campaign in the West African country was launched last month but hit a snag after it ran out of vaccines, forcing the government to launch an international appeal for the drugs.
Burkina Faso sits on the so-called ”meningitis belt” that runs from the southern Sahara in Senegal to Ethiopia, and whose total population is estimated at 300-million.
The International Coordinating Group (ICG) for meningitis vaccines has already released 530 000 doses in Burkina Faso, the WHO said.
In northern Uganda, there have been 2 961 cases including 105 deaths. For Sudan and the DRC, the figures are 6 946 cases and 430 deaths, and 730 cases and 84 deaths respectively.
Around 1,5-million people in affected countries have been targeted in mass vaccination campaigns organised by national authorities, the WHO, Médécins Sans Frontières and other non-governmental organisations.
Meningitis is an often fatal airborne infection, transmitted through sneezing and coughing, that infects the brain and spinal cord. Its symptoms include fever, rashes and vomiting. – Sapa-AFP