KANO, Nigeria: An outbreak of meningitis in Nigeria has killed at least 20 students at a boarding school and infected hundreds more, the commissioner of education in northeastern Nigeria’s Yobe state Mohammed Sani Idriss said on Wednesday.
“We have recorded an outbreak of meningitis in six secondary schools in the state which led to the death of 20 students out of the 473 infected,” Idriss said.
Idris said the epicenter of the outbreak was the town of Potiskom, where the State Technical University suffered the most damage and 17 people died.
He said that this school is under the medical supervision of isolation centers and emergency medical centers.
Idriss further said 370 hospitalized patients have recovered and been discharged, but considering that no new cases have been registered in the past two days, the situation is under control.
Meningitis is an infection of the lining around the brain and spinal cord and is transmitted through droplets and throat secretions.
Mortality rates are high and children are particularly at risk.
Nigeria is located in the meningitis belt of sub-Saharan Africa, which stretches from Senegal in the west to Ethiopia in the east, and is a common area for outbreaks of the disease.
