At least eight students from eastern China's Anhui
Province have died from meningitis in the past few weeks, said
health officials at the weekend. Three of them died after being
taken to hospital in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu
Province.
Du Changzhi, deputy director of Anhui Provincial Health Bureau,
said that seven are still under observation and 49 have recovered
from the disease.
Du told media that between December 20 and January 28, cases of
meningitis were found in schools in 11 cities, including Wuhu,
Chuzhou, Anqing, Chaohu and Hefei.
Anhui's health authorities received reports of 61 cases in all,
77 percent of whom were students.
Meningitis is an inflammation of membranes surrounding the brain
and spinal cord, and has a number of different causes, including
both bacteria and viruses. Symptoms include fever, vomiting and
intense headache, and some forms of bacterial meningitis are
contagious through close contact via respiratory secretions.
The current outbreak is type C meningitis, caused by the
bacteria Neisseria meningitides. Most of those affected have been
school students aged from 13 to 18, according to Du.
Lei Zhenglong, director of the Ministry of Health's Emergency
Response Division, said that over 2,000 people were infected with
meningitis nationally last year, which generally peaks in winter
and spring.
"Compared with some other infectious diseases like tuberculosis,
the number of meningitis cases is relatively low in China," Lei
said, "But it did kill more than 160 people in 2004."
Prevention measures for the disease are similar to those for flu
or SARS, including vaccinations, fresh air and using a mask if
necessary, Lei noted. Bacterial meningitis is not transmitted as
easily as flu or the common cold, however.
Du said health authorities have strengthened surveillance,
public education and immunization work to counter the infection's
spread.
In cities where it has appeared, many people have rushed to be
vaccinated. Thousands of vaccine doses have been allocated by the
provincial Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, said a doctor
at the centre named Fang.
Meningitis vaccination does not generally have a high take up
because people have to pay for it themselves, said Lei. Only one
Chinese factory produces the vaccine – about 30 million doses
annually, most of which remain unsold.
One dose of the vaccine is sold at about 18 yuan (US$2) in Anhui
and can be effective for three years, Fang said.
Type C meningitis was first reported in Anhui in September 2003,
in Qingyang County. Previous outbreaks had usually been type A,
said Du, which is easier to contain than type C.
Provincial health and education authorities have issued
guidelines on how to fight the disease, especially in schools, and
are publishing the latest developments every day.
They also said that people suffering from fever, headache, sore
throat or coughs should go to hospital for treatment.
(China Daily January 31, 2005)