Year: 2003
Type: article
Abstract: Epidemics of meningococcal meningitis occur in areas with particular environmental characteristics. We present evidence that the relationship between the environment and the location of these epidemics is quantifiable and propose a model based on environmental variables to identify regions at risk for meningitis epidemics. These findings, which have substantial implications for directing surveillance activities and health policy, provide a basis for monitoring the impact of climate variability and environmental change on epidemic occurrence in Africa. Epidemics of meningitis occur worldwide. However, the “meningitis belt ” of Africa’s Sahel region has the greatest incidence of the disease, with large epidemics attributed to predominantly group A meningococci; the endemic levels found in this region would be considered epidemic elsewhere. Although factors predisposing populations to meningitis epidemics are poorly understood, population susceptibility, introduction of new strains, poor living conditions, and concurrent infections have all been implicated. Epidemics occur throughout Africa in the dry season, coincide with periods of very low humidity and dusty conditions, and disappear with the onset of the rains, suggesting that these environmental factors may also play an important role in the occurrence of the disease (1–3). Lapeyssonnie (4) observed in 1963 that epidemics largely occurred in a semi-arid zone south from the Sahara, with 300–1,100 mm mean annual rainfall, and Cheesbrough et al. (5) suggested in 1995 that areas that are humid throughout the year have low disease rates. In West Africa, Waddy (1958) described an area that suffered epidemics as having “ … only one definable frontier, the junction of the forest…with the savanna…, when there is an abrupt change from a permanently humid climate to one with a severe dry season ” (6). Epidemics have been rarely reported from the humid forested or coastal regions, even when neighboring areas are severely affected.
Source: Emerging infectious diseases
Language: English
Subfield: Microbiology
Field: Immunology and Microbiology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W2124286038