GENEVA
(AP) - A meningitis outbreak sweeping across Africa has killed at least 3,500
people, the International Red Cross said Wednesday.
It said 38,000 cases
of the membrane infection had been documented, but that "many more are likely
to have gone unreported," said the International Federation of Red Cross and Red
Crescent Societies.
A statement said it was the worst outbreak of the
disease in the last decade and has caused a serious shortage of vaccine worldwide.
"There is definitely a crisis," said Dr. Hakan Sandbladh, the federation's
emergency health coordinator.
The federation and international health
organizations are trying to provide supplies to the most affected areas, Sandbladh
said.
The federation provided a million doses of vaccine to Ethiopia last
month and is sending 400,000 more to Burkina Faso, one of the centers of the outbreak
in West Africa, the statement said.
Burkina Faso has reported 1,525 deaths
since the beginning of the year, the statement said.
Unless vaccination
is widespread, bacteria are likely to continue spreading the disease until seasonal
rains arrive in several months, Sandbladh said.
Meningitis, an infection
of the membranes that protect the brain and spinal cord, often surfaces in Africa
during annual dry seasons. |
