The Northern Regional Directorate of the Ghana health service has stated that there is no outbreak of cerebrospinal meningitis (CSM) in the region has being reported by the Ghana News Agency.
The directorate says what is happening now cannot be described as outbreak or epidemic even though one person has lost her life in Yendi as a result of CSM.
Deputy Public Health Director, Dr Jacob Mahama at an emergency media briefing to react to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) report, told journalists the 18 years old Agnes Nigari, who died of Neisseria Meningitides type C in Yendi was an index case and that the directorate has recorded cases in Yendi for past three weeks but it has not reach an epidemic level as being reported.
He admonished journalists not always blow situations out of proportion saying it has the tendency of scaring people away from the region. A total of 75 cases according to Dr Jacob Mahama have been reported since the beginning of this year with one dead.
He said the four districts being reported as epidemic area have not reached what he called ‘alert threshold’
The breakdown of meningitis cases and deaths by weeks from 2013-2014 in the region indicates that a total 146 CSM cases were recorded in 2013 across the region with 10 deaths and in 2014, 75 CSM cases with one person dead.
However, GNA representative at the briefing insisted that the picture painted by the directorate was even more alarming than what the agency representative reported in Yendi.
But the Deputy public health director said their monitory points contrary to the media report. He therefore urged residents in the region to avoid sleeping in places where ventilations are very poor and overcrowded places.
Dr Jacob Mahama further urged residents to report to the nearest health centers as soon as one experience headache or fever.
He said the directorate has done its public education with the necessary stakeholders and all health workers have also been oriented on the situation of CSM. Dr Jacob Mahama assured the people in the north that the directorates are in full control of the situation and that there is no cause for alarm.
Categories:
