Meningitis outbreak kills 1,000 in south Sudan

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Pastor Dale Morgan

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Jan 21, 2007, 9:00:01 PM1/21/07

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*Plagues, Pestilences and Diseases

Meningitis outbreak kills 1,000 in south Sudan*

21 Jan 2007 12:47:19 GMT
Source: Reuters

JUBA, Sudan, Jan 21 (Reuters) - At least 1,000 people have died in one
week in south Sudan's Warap state from meningitis and another unknown
disease, state governor Anthony Bol Madut said in a statement sent to
Reuters on Sunday.

Emerging from Africa's longest civil war, south Sudan's infrastructure
is almost non-existent and outbreaks of disease are frequent. A cholera
outbreak last year killed 147 people.

"There is an outbreak of meningitis and (an) unknown disease spreading
fast throughout the state and there is fear it may affect other
neighbouring states," Madut's statement said.

He said the symptoms of the second disease were similar to yellow fever,
but the patient died quickly. He appealed for medical experts to come to
diagnose the disease and help stop the spread of the outbreak.

"Up to this time the death toll is over 1,000 this week alone," the
statement said. "As I am writing this press release, I am expecting
other death reports sooner or later."

Africa's "meningitis belt" stretches from Senegal to Ethiopia through
some of the world's poorest and most war-scarred places, including
Sudan. It accounts for more than half the cases of the disease worldwide
each year.

Meningitis is an infection of the thin lining that surrounds the brain
and spinal cord. It can cause complications including brain damage and
deafness. About 5 percent to 10 percent of patients die from the
illness, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Hundreds of thousands of southern Sudanese returning home after a
January 2005 peace deal with the government in Khartoum are especially
at risk because they live in crowded camps where infectious diseases
like meningitis thrive.

Warap is one of the poorest states in the south, on the border between
north and south Sudan.