Surveillance Team to monitor outbreak of meningitis in Afaode

A team of medical experts from the surveillance Unit of the Health Service has been dispatched to Afaode, in the North Tongu District to follow-up with the outbreak of the strange disease that has claimed seven lives including four children there.

Dr George Amofa, Director of the Public Health of the Ghana Health Service, on Monday said laboratory analysis from the specimen taken from the patients indicated that the said strange disease was not Cerebro Spinal Meningitis (CSM) but another form of meningitis caused by Haemophilus influenza and Stret pneumonia bacteria.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency in an interview in Accra, Dr Amofa said the team would also assess the situation and take specimen from the throat, nose as well as cerebrospinal fluid and other laboratory specimen for further diagnoses.

He explained that the disease breaks out during the dry season (December-March) due to the dryness of the weather and as a result people develop cracks on their lips and in their noses, which hasten the spread of the meningitis.

Dr Amofa however, assured the public that the surveillance division has been monitoring all cases of suspected meningitis to prevent a major out-break in the country.

He noted that though there were no vaccines for this disease, drugs were available for its treatment and urged the public to report any sign of headache, stiff neck and general illness to the nearest hospital for early detection and treatment.

According to Dr Amofa, some parts of the northern regions and other meningitis prone areas have epidemic preparedness committees whose members have been trained to manage the disease to forestall an epidemic.

He advised the public to avoid overcrowding and to drink more fluid as a means of preventing an upsurge of the disease.

Afaode has since December 26 reported 131 cases of meningitis out of which seven have died. Ten people have also been admitted at the Battor and Juapong Hospital in the Volta Region.