The current meningitis outbreak in Nigeria has reached a total of 19 states. About 4000 people are suspected to have been infected so far, out of which over 400 are already dead.

Like we stated in a previous health tip on meningitis, Nigeria is one of the countries in the African meningitis belt: a broad region across Africa, cutting across many countries, where the rate of meningitis infection is very high. In Nigeria, the entire north and some parts of the southwest fall within this African meningitis belt, meaning that outbreaks are common in these parts of the country, especially the north, during the dry season, between December and March.

This current outbreak is a bit dangerous because a lot of people are not immune to the particular bacterial strain that has been identified as the cause. There were nationwide programs in the past few years to vaccinate Nigerians aged between 2 and 29 years against the Neisseria meningitidis type A which has been the major cause of previous outbreaks. But this current outbreak is being attributed to the type C strain of the organism and the vaccine against it is not widely available, even outside the country because it is not that common.

Read more here https://www.kangpe.com/tip/view/192/How-To-Be-Safe-From-Meningitis?utm_source=nairaland&utm_campaign=tip_share&utm_medium=website&type=tip_share