Published Date: 2008-02-12 23:00:16
Subject: PRO/EDR> Meningitis, meningococcal - Central African Republic: RFI
Archive Number: 20080212.0567

MENINGITIS, MENINGOCOCCAL - CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: REQUEST FOR INFORMATION
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Date: Mon 11 Feb 2008
Source: AllAfrica [edited]
<http://allafrica.com/stories/200802120003.html>


Up to one million people in the Central African Republic (CAR) are at
risk from a meningitis epidemic sweeping across the northwest of
their country, and overwhelmed local health authorities do not have
enough vaccine stocks to meet demands, the United Nations Office for
the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned today [11 Feb 2008].

An outbreak was declared after numerous deaths were reported in the
districts of Ouham, Ouham Pende and Nana-Grebizi in the first 5 weeks
of this year, OCHA said in a press statement. UN agencies,
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the country's government
are working together to try to combat the epidemic. Following a
request from the World Health Organization (WHO), some USD 100 000
has been released from the UN's Emergency Response Fund (ERF) for the
CAR so that enough vaccines can be bought to protect about 80 000 people.

John Holmes, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and
Emergency Relief Coordinator, said that "protecting the people in the
north of the Central African Republic will prevent meningitis from
spreading to the rest of the country and into neighbouring Chad."

Toby Lanzer, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in the country, said the
ERF injection has ensured that aid workers can immediately help many
of those who need vaccines. "We count on donors to continue
supporting our efforts so that more lives can be saved," he said.

The meningitis epidemic is the latest crisis to hit the CAR, which
has been buffeted by deadly fighting between government forces and
armed rebels and also by widespread bandit attacks against civilians.
Life expectancy in the impoverished, landlocked nation stands at just
43 [years].

--
Communicated by:
Coulibaly Sidi
<sidi_couly@yahoo.ca>

[The above news release presumably refers to a meningococcal
meningitis outbreak. According to a prior ProMED post, archive
number 20080125.0309, the WHO warned in October 2007 that 80 million
people out of roughly 350 million who live in 21 African countries
that constitutes the so-called meningococcal meningitis belt,
stretching from Ethiopia and Eritrea in the east to Senegal and
Mauritania in the west, might need to be vaccinated against the
bacterium, _Neisseria meningitides_, in 2008. The African
meningococcal meningitis belt includes the northern portion of the
Central African Republic (CAR). A map of the African bacterial
meningitis belt can be found at
<http://www.medic8.com/images/map4-9.gif>.

Numerous cases of meningococcal meningitis are reported in this
region of Africa each year during the dry season, between December
and June, and every 6-12 years a large outbreak occurs
(<http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol9no10/03-0170.htm>).

WHO warned that meningitis could be especially severe in 2008 as the
region is anticipated to be heading toward the peak of a 6- to
12-year cycle of meningococcal meningitis (see ProMED post, archive
number 20080125.0309). Mass vaccination with the appropriate
serogroup-spcific meningococcal vaccine is used in involved districts
in an attempt to induce herd immunity (whereby transmission is
blocked when a critical percentage of the population have been vaccinated
(<http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs141/en/>). The
serogroups of _N. meningitides_ involved in the current outbreak in
the CAR are not specified in the above news release, although
outbreaks reported in surrounding countries have been due to
serogroups A and W135 (see prior ProMED posts below).

The CAR, a former French colony, is a sparsely populated (about 4.3
million people), landlocked country, bordered on the north and east
by Chad and Sudan, on the west by Cameroon and on the south by the
Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of the Congo. The
CAR is one of the world's least developed countries, with a 2002
annual per capita income of USD 260; agriculture accounts for 55
percent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP), with most of
the population engaged in subsistence farming. There are more than 80
ethnic groups in the Central African Republic, each with its own
language. The CAR is beset by ethnic tensions and continued civil
unrest, as are its neighbors. The U.S. Department of State has
strongly advised American citizens not to travel to the CAR because
of heightened security concerns as a result of fighting between
rebels and government forces in the north prefectures of the country
(<http://www.travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/tw/tw_940.html>). - Mod.ML]

See Also

Meningitis, meninges - Africa: W. Africa, Congo DR 20080125.0309
2007
----
Meningitis, meningococcal - Italy (Veneto) 20071222.4120
Meningitis, meningococcal - Uganda (Arua) 20071207.3954
Meningitis - Namibia (North): RFI 20070906.2942
2000
----
Meningitis - Namibia (North) 20001214.2182
...................................ml/ejp/dk

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