Description of the situation
19 March 1996
Disease Outbreak Reported
Over 38 000 cases and over 5 000 deaths caused by cerebrospinal meningitis have been reported in 11 countries in the African Region since the beginning of the year. Most of these have been reported in association with outbreaks in Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Niger and Nigeria. According to the most update received from the WHO Regional Office the following number of cases (deaths) had been reported:
Benin: 362 (46); Burkina Faso: 9 532 (859); Cameroon: 5 (1); Central African Republic: 155 (22); Chad: 244 (19); Ghana:18 (0); Mali: 787 (158); Niger: 5 529 (584); Nigeria: 20 982 (3 634); Tanzania: 99(8); Togo: 183 (33). No cases have been reported in Burundi, Côte d'Ivoire, Mauritania, and Senegal.