A patient being treated for meningitis
Two students of the Bawku Senior High School and the Bawku Senior High Technical School have been reported dead from suspected cases of cerebro spinal meningitis (CSM).
Eleven other students in the municipality have been admitted at the Bawku Presbyterian Hospital for the same health condition.
The headmasters of both schools – Bismark-Simon Kpuli and Bukari Abdulai- confirming the incident in an interview with local wire news agency, disclosed that one of the students reported to the school’s health centre and was given first aid, but later had to be rushed to the Bawku Presbyterian Hospital where he was detained, but later died of suspected CSM.
Mr Kpuli expressed concern that the disease has created so much fear among students, adding that they cannot not focus on their studies, but instead troop to health facilities in panic whenever they have slight headache, either imagined or real.
He appealed to the Upper East Regional and the Bawku Municipal Health Directorates to see the situation as a matter of urgency and embark on a mass vaccination exercise in schools in the area in order to avoid an outbreak.
The headmasters stated that immediate measures, including frequent health talks and students sleeping in open places with good air circulation, had been put in place to prevent further spread of the disease.
Meanwhile, Dr Kofi Issah, Upper East Regional Director of Health Services, has debunked reports that the two students in Bawku died from CSM.
He said, “One died at home and one died at the hospital. With the one who died at the hospital, when we conducted preliminary test it showed that he died from one of the meningitis organisms which the sample has been sent to Tamale for a confirmatory test.
But the one who died in the house, people will use the symptoms to tell the cause of death so if he’s been buried then it ends there, otherwise we have to take substance from him to test in order to ascertain the cause of death.”
He stated that the Bawku Hospital has recorded about 31 suspected CSM cases from January to March 25, 2017.
“The Upper East Region lies in the meningitis belt, it means that every year you should expect cases of meningitis. That is why we (health personnel) will advise that people should cover the mouth and nose when sneezing into a crowd and all public places should be well ventilated,” he added.
Dr Issah continued…“The weather too is dried so people should drink a lot of fluids (water) and organic fruits to keep the throat wet because of the dust during this time when you don’t take enough fluids, the throat gets dried which then leads to cracks within the throat and when one coughs, the meningitis organism is released and transmitted.”
Dr Issah hinted that the Navrongo and Bawku Health Directorates will soon engage the Navrongo and Bawku prison officers and prisoners on alternative ways to improve ventilation and best health practices during the meningitis season to avert any epidemic.
“We can only mitigate the effects of CSM until such a time that, as a society we decide to change our form of housing, modify our social and cultural gatherings knowing how the meningitis organisms spreads,” he mentioned.
CSM usually occurs in March and April when maximum temperature is recorded at over 40 degrees celsius and residents of the Upper East Region have been advised to take a lot of fluids, avoid overcrowding and sleep in well-ventilated rooms to prevent further transmission of the disease.
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri