1: Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg 2001 Sep-Oct;95 (5):477-80
Hodgson A, Smith T, Gagneux S, Adjuik M, Pluschke G, Mensah
NK, Binka F, Genton
B.
Navrongo Health Research Centre, Ministry of Health, Ghana.
Meningococcal meningitis is a major cause of morbidity and
mortality in the
meningitis belt of sub-Saharan Africa where it occurs in epidemics
every 8-12
years. Risk factors for the disease in this setting remain largely
unknown. We
carried out a case-control study to investigate possible risk
factors among
survivors of a meningitis epidemic occurring in 1997 in northern
Ghana. A
structured questionnaire on socio-economic factors, housing and
household
overcrowding, smoking and exposure to smoke and close contact
with a case was
administered to 505 of the survivors and 505 of age-, sex- and
location-matched
controls. Cooking in kitchens with firewood stoves (OR 9.00, CI
1.25-395) and
sharing a bedroom with a case (OR 2.18 CI 1.43-3.4) were found
to be risk
factors for disease. Socio-economic factors, overcrowding, smoking
and passive
exposure to tobacco smoke were not found to be risk factors. Exposure
to smoke
from cooking fires or close contact with a case puts people at
risk of
contracting meningococcal meningitis. In the hot dry months, exposure
to smoke
from cooking fires should be minimized by encouraging alternatives
to cooking
over wood fires, or cooking outside. If wood-burning stoves cannot
be avoided,
kitchens should be made larger with improved ventilation.
Meningitis cases
should be nursed in well-ventilated rooms and the number of people
sharing a
room with a case kept at a minimum.
PMID: 11706652 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
1998: Yosemite 2 young boys air lifted out of the park after being striken with meningococcal meningitis. It was observed that there were forest fires in the area that exposed the visitors to intense smoke.
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