National health team in Aweil after Meningitis kills 8

AWEIL – A national health team arrived in the Northern Bahr el Ghazal State capital, Aweil on Monday after reports linked eight deaths to Meningitis disease.

The team is in the state to curb the further spread of the deadly disease.

Most deaths occurred at Majok-Yithiou municipality on the border with Sudan.

The focal person at the hospital, Luka Lual Aleu Jok told journalists that they have alerted the national health ministry about the severity and continuity of the diseases, despite attempts made by the medical doctors to salvage the situation.

He attributed the spread of the killer disease to the high heatwave in the country.

According to Aleu, the stiffness caused by Meningitis could damage the sensory body systems when the vaccines is not immediately administered to a person.

“We encourage women and children and adults to get vaccinated whenever one spots the symptoms and that is why we always need our local population to comply with the health precautions being told to them,” he said.

Aleu said they will work with partners in the health sector to control the disease.

He further disclosed that some samples have already been taken to Juba and massive immunization would follow should the test results turn out to be positive.

Meningitis is a pathological disease that causes inflammation of the neck. It involves fever, vomiting among, other signs of complications associated with it.