A meningitis epidemic has killed 441 people out of more than 4,000 cases reported in Burkina Faso since the start of January, the health ministry said today.
The outbreak is centred along the border with Ivory Coast, where 44 deaths had been reported by February 20, a day before the two countries announced a joint health programme to tackle the epidemic.
"Between January 1 and March 9, 2008, we have a total of 4,061 suspect cases of meningitis, including 441 deaths, a mortality rate of 10.85 percent," Ousmane Badolo, the ministry official in charge of epidemic disease surveillance told AFP.
Dr Badolo said that of 16 affected districts in Burkina Faso, the outbreak had reached epidemic levels in seven of them. The last official figures issued on March 2 reported 366 deaths out of 3,181 cases.
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