Meningitis hits Zamfara again, 5 die

Cerebro spinal meningitis has hit Zamfara State again, killing five people and neccesitating treatment for a dozen others.

The dozen others injured were hospitalised at Sankalawa village in Bungudu Local Government Area of the state where the disease occurred.

More than 200 people died after meningitis hit the state in March last year and hundreds of others were treated.

Speaking on the latest occurrence, an official in the Bungudu local government who craved anonymity told our correspondent, “The local government has responded swiftly by sending a medical team with appropriate drugs and even those receiving treatment after the death of those five I have told you about, were discharged and there is no one meningitis patient in the clinic as I’m talking to you.”

An official in the state Ministry of Health said the cerebro spinal meningitis had hit many local government areas of the state and figures of the dead and affected people were being collected at the office of the Director of Public Health of the ministry.

“Yes, figures are trickling in everyday because there is a surveillance team in each of the local government area monitoring the situation and then reporting back to the ministry,” the official said.

A resident Hamisu Aliyu said he was shocked when he heard that meningitis had resurfaced in the state despite the cold weather and harmattan wind blowing in some northern states.

When contacted, the Director Public Health in the state, Dr Habib Yelwa, referred our reporter to the state Commissioner for Health.

The commissioner, Alhaji Sulaiman Adamu Gummi, could not be reached for comment at the time of filing this report. He did not respond to several phone calls put to him.