Cerebrospinal Meningitis, medical experts have warned, is on the rampage in parts of the country. Already, 328 Nigerians are said to have died of the disease that is getting widespread in Zamfara, Sokoto, Kebbi, Katsina and Niger States. And this is unacceptable. As if this is not bad enough, 16 other states are reported to be under the threat of the disease.To check its spread, the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) insists that the sum of $1.1 billion is required to vaccinate 22 million persons in the states affected in the hope that it will not rear its ugly head in areas not captured in the present estimate. From all indications, the nation has a challenge on its hands and must act fast to forestall a dangerous health situation. Those in a position to know say that the strain of the disease called Type C is new hence the seeming unpreparedness that suggests a surprise attack on the populace.That, in our opinion, may scarcely be a good enough reason to justify the number of deaths so far recorded. If there was an inkling of anticipation by the authorities concerned, perhaps the huge death figures would have been averted or at least reduced to manageable levels. 328 deaths are just too many. Ebola fever did take the health authorities by surprise yet it was contained with minimal death figures.Meningitis, an acute inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, known collectively as the meninges, has been with us for so long that all the talk about a new strain and not being prepared for it can easily be dismissed as unserious. It is a perennial disease in Nigeria and could not have caught anyone by surprise if the right things were done to monitor its development from time to time. We are doing it to malaria so what is so special about meningitis that we allowed it to claim such a huge number of lives' It is not unlikely that the researchers were waiting for an outbreak so as to ask for a huge sum. Otherwise, it is a scientific fact that outbreaks of the bacteria that causes the disease, bacterial meningitis, occur between December and June each year in an area of sub-Saharan Africa known as the meningitis belt. Smaller outbreaks may also occur in other areas of the world.The causative factors have to do with viruses, bacteria, or other micro-organisms, and less commonly by certain drugs. It is a life-threatening disease because of the inflammations proximity to the brain and spinal cord; therefore, the condition is classified as a medical emergency. The most common symptoms are fever, headache and neck stiffness. Other symptoms include confusion or altered consciousness, vomiting, and an inability to tolerate light or loud noises.Early test for the disease includes a lumbar puncture in which a needle is inserted into the spinal canal to collect a sample of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) that envelops the brain and spinal cord. The CSF is examined in a medical laboratory. This procedure diagnoses or excludes meningitis.Medical scientists also claim that some forms of meningitis are preventable by immunisation with the meningococcal, mumps, pneumococcal, and Hib vaccines. They also assert that giving antibiotics to people with significant exposure to certain types of meningitis may also be useful. Available records indicate that in 2015 meningitis occurred in about 8.7 million people worldwide. This resulted in 379,000 deathsdown from 464,000 deaths in 1990. With appropriate treatment experts say, the risk of death in bacterial meningitis is less than 15 per cent.In adults, the most common symptom of meningitis is a severe headache, occurring in almost 90 per cent of cases of bacterial meningitis, followed by nuchal rigidity (the inability to flex the neck forward passively due to increased neck muscle tone and stiffness). The classic triad of diagnostic signs consists of nuchal rigidity, sudden high fever, and altered mental status.However, all three features are present in only 4446 percent of bacterial meningitis cases. If none of the three signs are present, acute meningitis is extremely unlikely. Other signs commonly associated with meningitis include photophobia (intolerance to bright light) and phonophobia (intolerance to loud noises). Small children often do not exhibit the aforementioned symptoms, and may only be irritable and look unwell. The fontanelle (the soft spot on the top of a babys head) can bulge in infants aged up to 6 months. Other features that distinguish meningitis from less severe illnesses in young children are leg pain, cold extremities, and an abnormal skin color.
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