Blog 9

Blog 9

 

Meningitis epidemic kills 75 in Niger

 

In Niger Africa, there was a recent meningitis epidemic. The Meningitis outbreak first started in the beginning of this year in January. Since January the outbreak has spread all over Niger and is now an epidemic. Since the first initial announcement of an outbreak there has been reported 75 five deaths. The meningitis epidemic is not just in Niger but is also an epidemic nationwide. There has been a total of 694 cases reported nationwide so far. Most of the deaths have occurred in the nation’s capital Niamey, but has spread to all regions of the country. With the exception of the city near the Nigerian border. Within the next week the health care teams in charge of ending this epidemic are trying to a vaccine campaign sometime next week. The vaccine with be given out in the most affected areas in Niger. There has already been a distribution of 13,500 doses that will hopefully reach Niger by next week. This epidemic is something that is not new to Niger. Niger is one of the poorest countries in the world and is prone to meningitis outbreaks, in fact Niger is known as a part of the meningitis belt. This belt is stretched from Senegal to Ethiopia. Meningitis is a well-known disease is also very contagious and can have an array of symptoms.

     I have been noticing not just in Africa but also in various countries around the world that there has been a problem with meningitis infections and also measles. I did not think that these to diseases would come back in great numbers since we do have a vaccine for it. In Africa I was not surprise to see a meningitis epidemic because I know that Africa is prone to many disease outbreaks. I believe that Africa and many countries in Africa, like Niger are prone to these outbreaks because they do not have a great health care system and is also a developing country. One thing I was surprised to hear was that Africa had a problem with meningitis. I always thought that Africa mainly had problems with the diseases such as malaria and HIV but I never thought they had a problem with meningitis also.

http://news.yahoo.com/meningitis-epidemic-kills-75-niger-170357924.html

4-17-15
6:34pm