Abuja, 14 April 2015 - The World Health Organization state office in Sokoto has supported government to immunize 81,761 (89%) people aged 2-30yrs against cerebrospinal meningitis (CSM), out of the 91, 857 targeted in Shagari, Tangaza and Gudu; the three affected local government areas (LGAs) in the state.

The International Coordinating Group (ICG) for meningitis outbreak response had initially provided 355,000 doses of meningitis tetravalent vaccine (ACYW) for outbreak response and 8000 doses of ceftriaxone for Kebbi and Sokoto states for case management. The reactive vaccination campaign was conducted in both states with support from the WHO Country office and an expert from WHO-AFRO West Africa Inter-country Support Team.

In Sokoto State, the outbreak of CSM was notified in epidemiological week five, 2015 from Tambuwal LGA, where three cases were reported with a fatality rate as high as 33.3%. An outbreak investigation was initiated with the WHO state office in collaboration with other partners including Medicine San Frontiers (MSF), providing technical support to the state. Neisseria meningitidis serotype C was confirmed from cerebro-spinal (CSF) samples in Kebbi and Sokoto states. Furthermore, awareness campaign and active search for unreported cases from within the four affected and remaining 18 LGAs in the state was intensified using the existing polio surveillance structures.

According to Dr Isiaka Ayodeji, the WHO State Coordinator, “the situation was monitored daily and cross border surveillance with Niger Republic was stepped up. By week 8, the occurrence of the cases had reached an epidemic threshold with 39 cases reported and a fatality rate of 25% and by week 12, 2015, the cases have reached 201, with 29 deaths in 8 LGAs”

To ensure injection safety for the reactive vaccination campaign, WHO donated 1, 870 pieces of latex hand gloves and 500 packs of cotton wool to the state government for use by the 50 vaccination teams. It also produced 147 carbonated booklets of Integrated Diseases Surveillance and response (IDSR) 001 and 002 forms to ensure proper data management by LGA Diseases Surveillance and Notification Officers (DSNOs) and surveillance focal points.

Receiving the donations from WHO State Coordinator, the Executive Secretary, Sokoto State Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr. Shehu Labaran thanked  WHO and said ‘’ this is what we expect partners in the state to do; take the  initiative in identifying gaps and bridging them in a timely manner”.

A recent report from the Disease Prevention and Control (DPC) cluster of WHO Nigeria Country office(WCO) indicate that “cumulatively from week 01 to week 13, 2015, a total of 1310 CSM cases (37 lab-confirmed) with 73 deaths (CFR of 5.6%) were reported from 78 LGAs in 19 states, compared to 658 CSM cases (23 lab-confirmed) with 63 deaths (9.6%) reported from 83 LGAs in 20 States within the same period in 2014”.

However, Dr Mary Stephen of the DPC WCO stated that there has been a steady decline in the total number of cases with significant reduction in case fatality rate in Kebbi and Sokoto states.

It is important to note that Nigeria lies in the meningitis outbreak prone – geographical belt and conducted preventive MenAfricVac campaign in November 2013 against Neisseria meningitides serotype A, the commonest cause of CSM in Africa, So far in 2015, all CSM cases are due to serotype C, an indication that the serotype A campaign was very successful.

WHO will continue to provide support to the affected states to completely halt the outbreak.

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For more information, please contact:

Technical contacts:

Dr  Mary Stephen
Tel: +234 816 289 9789; 
Email: stephenma [at] who.int (stephenma[at]who[dot]int)
Dr Isiaka Ayodeji
Tel: + 234  803 714 4446
Email: isiakaa [at] who.int (isiakaa[at]who[dot]int)
Media contact:

Ms Charity Warigon
Tel: +234 810 221 0093
Email: warigonc [at] who.int (warigonc[at]who[dot]int)