2 students dead, 11 admitted in suspected Meningitis at Bawku

Two students in Bawku are reported dead from a suspected case of Cerebro Spinal Meningitis (CSM), while eleven are on admission at the Bawku Presbyterian Hospital.

The two deceased were second-year science students of the Bawku Senior High School, and the Bawku Senior High Technical School.

The Headmasters of both schools; Mr Bismark-Simon Kpuli and Mr Bukari Abdulai confirmed the incident in an interview at Bawku.

Mr. Kpuli, Headmaster for the Bawku Senior High School, told the GNA that Master Awini Moro, reported to the School’s Health Centre and was given first aid, but later had to be rushed to the Bawku Presbyterian Hospital where he was detained, but died later of suspected CSM.

The Headmasters said the death of their students were a blow to them and that immediate measures had been put in place to prevent such occurrences, saying frequent health talks would be organized to educate the students on the symptoms of the disease.

They asked the students to sleep in open places where there was good circulation of air, so as to forestall further spread of the disease.

Mr Kpuli expressed concern that the disease had caused so much fear in the students that they could not focus on their studies, but instead troop to health facilities in panic whenever they had a bit of headache, either imagined or real.

He appealed to the Upper East Regional and the Bawku Municipal Health Directorates to see it as a matter of urgency and embark on a mass vaccination exercise in schools in the area in order to avoid an outbreak.

Speaking to the GNA in Bolgatanga to confirm the situation in Bawku, Dr. Razak Dokurugu, Upper East Regional Deputy Director of Health Services in charge of Clinical Care, said there had been sporadic reported cases of suspected CSM in the Eastern Corridor, covering Bawku, Garu and Pusiga Districts, but laboratory tests had not been carried out to identify the particular strain of the causative agent.

He said the Region had not started mass vaccination yet, but that would be done when the disease poses a threat to the public.

CSM usually occurs in March and April when maximum temperature is recorded at over 40 degrees Celsius.