BACKGROUND Every year, West Africa is afflicted with Meningococcal Meningitis (MCM) disease outbreaks. Although the seasonal and spatial patterns of disease cases have been shown to be linked to climate, the mechanisms responsible for these patterns are still not well identified. RESULTS A statistical analysis of annual incidence of MCM and climatic variables has been performed to highlight t...

Meningococcal disease which is increasing globally is still associated with a high mortality and persistent neurological defects, particularly among infants and young children. Sporadic meningococcal meningitis occurs throughout the world, with seasonal variations, and accounts for 10-40% of endemic bacterial meningitis. Epidemic meningitis occurs in any part of the world but the largest and mo...

Acute bacterial meningitis is an important cause of morbidity and mortality among children less than five years old, Haemophilus influenzae, Streptococcus pneumoniae and Neisseria meningitidis being the most important agents of bacterial meningitis in developing countries. The development of the conjugate vaccines in the beginning of the 90's, especially type b H. influenzae (Hib), and more rec...

Introduction The costs of addressing specific needs to improve surveillance systems in sub-Saharan Africa are often unknown. For centuries meningococcal meningitis epidemics have occurred every few years in the Sahelian and sub-sahel regions of Africa also referred to as the “African meningitis belt”. A serogroup A meningococcal conjugate vaccine, MenAfriVac®, was licensed in 2009 and introduce...

We describe a group of 3 cases of invasive meningococcal disease that occurred in a military training camp in April 2011. All three patients were hospitalized. Ultimately, two patients recovered and one died. One patient had meningitis, one patient had septicemia and meningitis, and the other had no definite septicemia or meningitis. Neisseria meningitidis serogroup W-135 was detected in the se...

Background Meningococcal meningitis has been a terrifying public health threat in countries of the Sahel and sub-Sahel over the past 100 years. This geographical area has been named the “African meningitis belt”. Older children and young adults are particularly at risk during epidemics. The mortality rate is usually 5% 10%. A serogroup A meningococcal conjugate vaccine was licensed in 2009. Mas...