The Director of Public Health of the Ghana Health Service, Joseph Amankwah says the recent outbreak of cerebrospinal meningitis (CSM) in the Upper West region is under control.
The Daily Graphic on Monday February 23, reported that a strange form of the deadly cerebrospinal meningitis (CSM) has killed 17 people and caused the hospitalization of 78 others in the Upper West Region, with the Jirapa District being the worst affected.
According to the report Jirapa had been the worst hit. The disease, which experts said had gone beyond the epidemic threshold to become an outbreak, has killed eight people out of the 52 reported cases.
In an interview with Citi FM Dr. Joseph Amankwah said that a request has been sent to the World Health Organization for effective vaccine against the deadly disease.
He noted that the situation is under control and within forty-eight hours based on the response of the World Health Organization (WHO) stringent measures would be taken to curb the spread of the outbreak.
He added that a national team has been dispatched to verify and support the district team to curtail the outbreak in the region. He said that logistics and some drugs to be used in controlling the cases have been sent to the affected areas to reduce the spread of the precarious disease.
�A national team was up to verify and support the regional and the district team. What we are doing now is that we have sent drugs and other logistics in manning the cases�.
The deadly disease called W135 which is caused by the inflammation of the brain and the Spinal cord, according to Dr. Joseph Amankwah is a new strain that the country is experiencing.
He added that workers of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) are not overwhelmed by the situation of the current outbreak as reported by the Daily Graphic. He said workers of the Ghana Health Service in the region have the expertise and skill to deal with the bacterium causing the current outbreak.
Dr. Joseph Amankwah advised the public to avoid overcrowding in affected areas since the disease spreads from one section to another through the discharge of droplet of the germs. He also asked people living in houses without adequate ventilation to provide ventilation in their rooms to avert the spread of the outbreak.
�We are advising the public to avoid overcrowding�and those in their rooms should make sure they open their windows for air to fill in. Also they should avoid public places, funeral performances and other groupings. - Those are the recipe for disaster. Those are the conditions which allow t the disease to spread very, very fast�. He said.
He noted that due to the deadly nature of the disease people should report early to the health services when they detect any symptoms related to the disease.
�People must report the disease very early, the disease is very deadly�so we are telling the public if you have the signs and symptoms of the disease and all the communities in the three Northern regions are aware of the signs and symptoms of the disease, Fever, Headache, Vomiting, they know this, they are aware�
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