L. Niel et al., CHRONICAL OF A DECLARED EPIDEMIC OF MENIN GOCOCCAL MENINGITIS (GOMA, ZAIRE, AUGUST 1994), Bulletin de la Societe de pathologie exotique et de ses filiales, 90(5), 1997, pp. 299-302
The authors relate their experience controlling an epidemic of meningi
tis which broke out in the refugee camps of the Goma region, in northe
rn Zaire, after the dramatic events which had happened in Rwanda in Ap
ril and lune 1994. Out of the 348 cases oi purulent meningitis diagnos
ed by the Bioforce team, meningococcal etiology was confirmed 327 time
s. The isolated meningococci were ail of the serogroup A, serotype A;
4; P 1,9. They were resistant to streptomycin and to sulphamides. The
epidemic lasted one month, touched people of ail ages and spread progr
essively to all the camps. The epidemic surveillance set up meant hat
vaccination was carried out very quickly and the epidemic brought rapi
dly under control, even if other factors did intervene. All those call
ed upon to intervene in such a context should be made aware of the int
erest of the basic triad to fight these epidemics: rapid vaccination,
treatment of cases with oily chloramphenicol and bio-epidemiological s
urveillance.