About seventeen (17) students in Nigeria have died following a meningitis outbreak.
A report says schoolchildren across five schools in Nigeria’s north-eastern Yobe state could not survive after an outbreak of meningitis.
The state commissioner for education, Mohammed Sani-Idris told the BBC that among the deceased were students in primary schools and others in boarding secondary schools.
According to him, a total of 473 suspected cases have been recorded so far.
Meningitis is an infection which causes acute inflammation of the outer layers of the brain and spinal cord. If not diagnosed and treated early, it can be life-threatening.
An effective way of preventing meningitis is through vaccination.
Earlier in the year, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) put out a public health advisory on the disease.
They indicated that the dry season could “increase the risk of infection, especially with crowding and poor ventilation”.
Currently, most cases of the disease in Nigeria are reported in what has been termed the “Meningitis Belt,” which covers all 19 states in the northern region.
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