GENEVA - The World Health Organisation (WHO) expressed concern yesterday over the "worrying scale" of the meningitis outbreak in Africa, known to have killed at least 5,348 people in a dozen countries this year.
The UN agency estimated that epidemics of cerebrospinal meningitis now presented a public health hazard in 20 states. "This means that there is a population of approximately 357 million Africans at risk," it said. The death toll in Nigeria from meningitis has risen to 3,889, while the number of people dying of cholera and measles there has risen to 487 and 302, respectively, since January.
