Cerebrospinal meningitis kills 3 in Northern Region

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Three persons have been killed by cerebrospinal meningitis - better known as CSM - at Bole in the Northern region, health authorities have said.

In total, about 30 CSM cases have been reported in the region - 14 at the Bole hospital and 16 at the Sawla-Tuna-Kalba polyclinic.

While no deaths were recorded at the Sawla-Tuna-Kalba polyclinic, three people lost their lives at the Bole hospital.

This has compelled the Sawla-Tuna-Kalba Health Directorate to step up surveillance in the district to curtail the spread of the disease.

District Director of Health Services, Thomas Sennor told Joy News in an interview the situation is under control.

He said the deaths occurred because infected persons did not report to the hospital early enough.

“We have stepped up surveillance and following up everywhere to find where there is a possible sickness of CSM, where there is a possibility that someone is dying of CSM and where there is possibility of the disease spreading.

“We are following up with education and appealing to people to report immediately to the hospital. We have education facilities set up in the churches, schools and market places as well as daily health education activities in the communities,” Thomas Sennor said.

In January, one person was reported to have contracted the disease in the Volta Region.

The recent outbreak of variants of meningitis in the country has become a major cause of concern for residents located in regions worse hit by the epidemic.

In all, about 100 people have been killed by pneumococcal and meningococcal meningitis since November last year.

Some 500 other cases were reported in various hospitals nationally.

The disease was first reported at Tain, a district in the Brong Ahafo region but spread quite quickly to other parts of the country.

Northern, Ashanti, Eastern, Volta, Greater Accra, Upper West, Upper East and Western regions have also recorded cases of the disease since it broke in December 2015.

Health Minister, Alex Segbefia assured that his ministry was working assiduously to curb the spread of the disease.

What is cerebrospinal meningitis?

Cerebrospinal Meningitis is a chronic medical condition which causes an inflammation of the membranes of both the brain and spinal cord.

The inflammation of the brain and the spinal cord often results in a very serious infection and becomes an often fatal variety of meningitis caused by the meningococcus bacteria.

Symptoms include sudden fever, severe headache and stiff neck.