Meningitis: lessons from an outbreak

The latest season of meningitis is over, but not without casualties. Ground Zero was Zamfara state: 14 December 2016. A total 1,166 people died across 25 states. More than 14 infections suspected to be meningitis were reported.

The majority tested positive for a strain of meningitis rare to Nigeria. Type C.

But the symptoms were expected— sudden high fever, neck stiffness, persistent headache, drowsiness, lack of appetite, vomiting.

And the effects to the brain and spinal cord known to science.

December 14 was the date Zamfara got its first case, according to Tukur Ahmad, officer in-charge of Primary Health Care Gora, Birni Magaji L.G.A in Zamfara.

The cases mounted to four, and healthworkers all the while were treating malaria.

“We didn’t know what it was by then. When the disease started spreading, we reported the symptoms to the Disease Surveillance and Notification Officer (DSNO).

The officer would late invite a state team, which took samples and later “informed us it was meningitis,” he said.

Aisha Kabiru survived the outbreak which killed over 1,000 more people.

When she first complained of headaches, neck stiffness and body pain, her mother gave her herbs.

She was rushed to hospital only when the symptoms, and by then she was unconscious.

“I was scared thinking that I would die, but the doctors did their best. As soon as they started treatment, I started getting better. my mother didn’t spend much money because the treatment was free,’’ she said

With meningitis, as with other contagious diseases, close contact is crucial. Coughing, sneezing, sharing of eating utensils and towel can transfer the pathogens that bring on meningitis.

Mendicant children, known as almajiris, were the most hit in the outbreak. Their lifestyle forces them into close quarters—dozens and hundreds of children sharing congested spaces.

Emir of Gusau in Zamfara, Ibrahim Bello, said weak immune system of the children brought on by poor eating habit exacerbated the spread.

”Those who were largely affected were the almajiri, those who come to learn their religion of Islam, they congregate, and because of that togetherness anybody who is affected can easily spread it to others,” he said.

Muhammadu Ballarabe, Imam of ‘Makaranta Zawuyya’ (school for almajiri) had to do something when informed how the disease spread.

He forced the children to sleep in open air, outside and far away from one another. He had to control spread. His school had some 2,000 children.

But meningitis, recurring and common as it is fatal, can be treated, if treatment starts early on.

Mohammadu Lawal is father to the first two children who came down with meningitis in Zamfara.

The experience was “scary and confusing”, he says, because the symptoms seemed strange to him.

“My first son complained of headache in the morning and minutes later the second complained of the same headache. We bought ‘cafenol’ drug and gave them, but later in the day, they both complained of abdominal pain which later escalated to unconsciousness.

“I was confused and scared, and then I rushed them to the hospital where they were given intravenous fluid, vaccine and drugs. And am happy to inform you that my children have fully recovered and are doing just fine and one is in school as we speak,” he told a team from Nigeria Centre for Disease Control assessing lessons from the epidemic.

The risk of meningitis can be reduced by plain, old-fashioned hygiene. Wash your hands regularly with soap, avoid sharing eating utensils, get immunizations and vaccines for meningitis and seek immediate medical attention when you or anyone shows symptoms.