{"id":13901,"date":"2017-04-02T19:38:44","date_gmt":"2017-04-02T19:38:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/?p=13901"},"modified":"2017-04-02T19:38:44","modified_gmt":"2017-04-02T19:38:44","slug":"meningitis-death-toll-hits-328-stop-handshaking-kissing-to-curtail-spread-fg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/?p=13901","title":{"rendered":"Meningitis Death Toll Hits 328: Stop Handshaking, Kissing To Curtail Spread &#8211; FG"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The death toll in the Cerebrospinal Meningitis scourge ravaging the country has risen to 328 with the scourge spreading to Lagos, Plateau and Osun states.<\/p>\n<p>The Federal Ministry of Health, which confirmed the development through a public advisory made available to Sunday Tribune, however, announced an eight-point precaution to be strictly observed by Nigerians, as the authorities battled frantically against further escalation of the scourge.<\/p>\n<p><code><script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<!-- www.deltanewsroom.com --><br \/>\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display: block;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-2163942495525027\" data-ad-slot=\"1411897411\" data-ad-format=\"auto\"><\/ins><br \/>\n<script>\n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\n<\/script><\/code><\/p>\n<p>The government urged Nigerians to reduce hand shaking, kissing, sharing utensils or medical interventions such as mouth resuscitation.<\/p>\n<p>The other warnings included avoidance of self-medication, overcrowding, close and prolonged contact with a case(s); proper disposal of respiratory and throat secretions; strict observance of hand hygiene and sneezing into elbow joint\/sleeves; vaccination with relevant sero-type of the meningococcal vaccine and for people to sleep in well-ventilated places.<\/p>\n<p>The measures were contained in a public advisory from the Federal Ministry of Health entitled Cerebrospinal Meningitis (CSM) outbreak in Nigeria.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/market.jumia.com.ng\/computers-laptops-gaming\/?utm_source=pap&amp;utm_medium=aff&amp;utm_campaign=3e86477b&amp;a_aid=Omafume&amp;a_bid=3e86477b\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"\" src=\"\/\/kaymu.postaffiliatepro.com\/accounts\/default1\/a72f75b38\/3e86477b.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"468\" height=\"60\" \/><\/a><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border: 0;\" src=\"http:\/\/kaymu.postaffiliatepro.com\/scripts\/a72f75i38?a_aid=Omafume&amp;a_bid=3e86477b\" alt=\"\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The ministry advised people not to panic, because the death toll and scourge might spread, stressing that the authorities in collaboration with all relevant agencies had stepped up efforts to arrest the problem.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAlthough the cumulative number of people and locations affected may continue to increase, the actual rate of increase has begun to decline in some states indicating that the end of the epidemic is in sight.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAll public sector hospitals (secondary and tertiary hospitals) have been directed to provide free treatment for all Cases of Cerebrospinal Meningitis,\u201d the ministry stated.<\/p>\n<p>Under its case management and infection Prevention &amp; Control (IPC) programme, the ministry said functional Isolation centers\/units had been identified in all states and efforts in progress to strengthen them.<\/p>\n<p><code><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.alternativeadvert.com\/show.php?z=30&amp;pl=12784&amp;ad_type=59&amp;rl=180\" width=\"300\" height=\"250\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/code><\/p>\n<p>According to the government, antibiotics and management supplies available and being used as per protocol in all states for treatment, while the number of cases currently on admission or treated since the onset of the outbreak are being collated across the country, while a micro plan had been concluded in Zamfara State, worst-hit by the scourge, and where it all started in November 2016, for possible vaccination in week 14.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNinety Local Government Areas (LGAs) in 16 states of the Federation are so far affected, including Zamfara, Katsina, Sokoto, Kebbi, Niger, Nassarawa, Jigawa, FCT, Gombe, Taraba , Yobe, Kano, Osun, Cross Rivers, Lagos and Plateau.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe total number of people affected across these states is 2,524 with 328 deaths. So far, a total 131 samples have been confirmed in the Laboratory, out of which a majority are Neisseria Meningitides type C. This current outbreak started in Zamfara State in the 50th week of 2016 (i.e. November 2016),\u201d it stated.<\/p>\n<p>In an interview with newsmen, the Plateau State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Kunden Deyin, disclosed that Plateau has recorded five suspected cases of the ailment in Langtang South and Mikang local governments of the state.<\/p>\n<p>The commissioner, who disclosed this in an interview in Jos, said the outbreak in the southern zone was received with shock adding the officials of the ministry of health and government agencies have been deployed to the affected communities to arrest the situation and to prevent it from spreading further.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<!-- www.deltanewsroom.com --><br \/>\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display: block;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-2163942495525027\" data-ad-slot=\"1411897411\" data-ad-format=\"auto\"><\/ins><br \/>\n<script>\n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\n<\/script><\/p>\n<p>He said the national policy on meningitis now stipulated that before any case is confirmed as being that of meningitis, a blood sample or cerebrospinal fluid must have been diagnosed at a government-approved medical laboratory.<\/p>\n<p>The Federal Ministry of health had, in its public advisory, maintained that some of the other actions taken as of March 31, 2017, included constituting a CSM outbreak control team to coordinate all responses aimed at controlling the outbreak, which the membership include FMOH, NCDC, NPHCDA, WHO and other partners (MSF, UNICEF, CDC and EHealth Africa).<\/p>\n<p>The other steps are regular coordination meetings while all the initial five states affected by the scourge had commenced Emergency Operation Centre EOC\/EPR meetings, and the mapping of resources at state level to identify ongoing activities.<\/p>\n<p>The government identified some challenges that had characterised the battle against the scourge to include low CSF collection rates (CSF sample versus reported cases); weak logistics for sample transportation for prompt laboratory diagnosis and weak coordination between SMOH surveillance officers and treatment Centres.<\/p>\n<p>The government recalled that the worst CSM epidemics experienced in Nigeria occurred in 1996, when about 109,580 cases and 11,717 deaths were recorded, followed by the one in 2003 (4,130 cases and 401 deaths) then in 2008 (9,086 cases and 562 deaths) and in 2009, when 9086 cases and 562 deaths were recorded.<\/p>\n<p>Lawmaker donates drugs to patients in Zamfara<\/p>\n<p>In another development, the member representing Anka\/Talata-Mafara Federal Constituency in Zamfara, Honourable Lawali Hassan, has donated drugs worth N1.8 million to the victims of meningitis outbreak in his constituency.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/meningitis-3.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-13902\" src=\"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/meningitis-3-300x218.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"218\" srcset=\"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/meningitis-3-300x218.png 300w, http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/meningitis-3.png 550w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The lawmaker, who presented the items through his foundation, \u201cDan\u2019iya Foundation,\u201d said that his effort was aimed at complementing both the state and Federal Government\u2019s efforts in tackling the menace.<\/p>\n<p>Receiving the items, the secretaries of Talata-Mafara and Anka Emirate Councils, Alhaji Mu\u2019azu Musa and Alhaji Aliyu Bango, respectively commended Hassan for his gesture, assuring the donor of judicious distribution of the drugs to the victims.<\/p>\n<p>Tribune.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The death toll in the Cerebrospinal Meningitis scourge ravaging the country has risen to 328 with the scourge spreading to Lagos, Plateau and Osun states. The Federal Ministry of Health, which confirmed the development through a public advisory made available to Sunday Tribune, however, announced an eight-point precaution to be strictly observed by Nigerians, as [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":13902,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[3658],"class_list":["post-13901","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","tag-meningitis"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/meningitis-3.png","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4oswh-3Cd","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13901","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13901"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13901\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13903,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13901\/revisions\/13903"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}