A vast majority of the nearly 25,000 suspected meningitis cases and more than 15,000 deaths worldwide in the first three months of 2009 have occurred in the so-called “African meningitis belt,” hitting Nigeria and Niger the hardest, the United Nations health agency has reported.
The bulk of the cases in the meningitis belt, stretching from Senegal to Somalia, has been in northern Nigeria, reporting 17,462 suspected cases and 960 deaths, and Niger, with 4,513 suspected cases and 169 deaths, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Vaccination campaigns are underway in the two countries, with the support of WHO, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the non-governmental organization Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).
WHO, which is supporting the Nigerian Health Ministry’s efforts to boost disease surveillance, has had technical experts on the ground since last month.
Along with its partners, WHO has released 2.3 million doses of vaccines to Nigeria and 1.9 million to Niger. Nearly 13 million doses were stockpiled for 2009, but more are needed for this meningitis season which will run from January through June.
Nigeria, Niger hardest hit by 2009 meningitis epidemic – UN health agency
WHO experts don’t take in account evolutionary developed very sharp genetic diversity in human resistance to meningococcal infection. The existence of such variation is documented not only by the plethora of both epidemiological and clinical observations but also by many experimental data, which have been published, for instance, in Microbes and Infection, 2000, 2(5): 447-453 and in the book entitled “Hereditary Immunity: Fundamental Principles and Exploitation in Life Study and Health Care”, that was published just recently in New York. The experiments allowed reveal both cellular and molecular basis for individual differences in susceptibility to meningococcal infection. What is more, the discovered individual variation in cell sensitivity to meningococcal attack correlated with well known epidemiological data. Thus the approved in vitro test for human cell susceptibility/immunity to meningococcal infection can be used for the detection of susceptible individuals and for subsequent forecast of both intensification of meningitis’s epidemics and its severity. The escape of peoples inhabiting the territory of African meningitis belt should be performed by use of this test.
WHO don’t take in account genetic resistance to meningococci that is documented by data, published in Microbes and Infection, 2000, 2(5) and ‘Hereditary Immunity’, New York, 2008. The elaborated in vitro test for cell immunity to meningococci can be used for detection of suscep-tible individuals and subsequent fo-recast of meningitis’s epidemics.
WHO don’t take in account genetic resistance to meningococci that is documented by data, published in Microbes and Infection, 2000, 2(5) and ‘Hereditary Immunity’, New York, 2008. The elaborated in vitro test for cell immunity to meningococci can be used for detection of suscep-tible individuals and subsequent fo-recast of meningitis’s epidemics.
WHO don’t take in account genetic resistance to meningococci that is documented by data, published in Microbes and Infection, 2000, 2(5) and ‘Hereditary Immunity’, New York, 2008. The elaborated in vitro test for cell immunity to meningococci can be used for detection of suscep-tible individuals and subsequent fo-recast of meningitis’s epidemics