Kumasi Academy shutdown after meningitis claims 4 lives

Authorities of the Kumasi Academy Senior High School (KUMACAS) have suspended all school activities and sent all the students home.

This decision by the authorities follows the death of some four students of the school which has been attributed to meningitis.

Authorities of the school say the students are ‘distressed’ and may not psychologically sound to undertake the end of term exam.

The school further indicated that the burial of three of the deceased students would take place over the coming weekend.

Due to these developments the school has asked all parents to go for their wards from the campus. School activities resume on May 4 2017. End of term examination was also postponed till after they have resumed.

Background

Four students of the Kumasi Academy Senior High School died at various hospitals of what was earlier suspected to be food poisoning. After investigations, an autopsy report released indicated that the four died of meningitis with a total number of 26 cases recorded.

Parents withdrew their wards following the scare of the death. Fears were allayed after the investigations.

It is currently unclear whether there are some undetected cases but so far the Ashanti regional minister and the Ghana Health Service in the Ashanti region have indicated that the situation is under control.

Meningitis

Meningitis – an inflammation of the membrane of the brain and the spinal cord, killed almost 100 people in 2016 in eight (8) regions of Ghana when it broke out. It is caused by either bacteria, fugal or viral infections or an airborne disease.

The situation was contained after the Ghana Health Service in collaboration with the other allied health institutions visited the affected regions with the vaccinations.