No evidence of 4 siblings dying simultaneously of Meningitis in Egypt's Minya Governorate: Health Ministry - Health
On Saturday evening, several social media reports alleged that four children from the same family died of meningitis in Minya Governorate. According to those reports, the children arrived at a hospital showing symptoms including high fever, headache, neck stiffness, irritability, vomiting, and sensitivity.
They died shortly after. Fears of a meningitis outbreak among children quickly spread on social media.
The ministry clarified in its statement that meningitis is a disease caused by inflammation of the membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord (the meninges). It can be caused by microbes (bacteria, viruses, fungi, or parasites), or by non-microbial causes such as tumors, medications, surgeries, or accidents.
In response to these claims, the ministry stated that there is no medical evidence supporting the occurrence of simultaneous deaths in infectious diseases.
It emphasised that non-infectious causes, such as food or chemical poisoning, must be excluded before confirming the cause of death.
The ministry explained that in cases of household outbreaks, deaths typically occur within a few days, not simultaneously. It added that the body's response to infection varies depending on age, immunity, and viral load, making the simultaneous death of four siblings medically illogical.
In this context, the ministry also noted that Egypt has successfully controlled the contagious bacterial type of meningitis since 1989, due to effective surveillance and preventive vaccination, with the incidence rate dropping to 0.02 cases per 100,000 people.
It confirmed that no epidemic cases of bacterial types A and C have been recorded among school students since 2016 due to the strategic use of vaccinations.
According to its statement, the ministry confirmed that it annually provides 6.5 million doses of the bivalent A and C vaccine for first-year students across all educational stages. It also offers 600,000 doses annually of the quadrivalent vaccine for travellers to high-risk countries or for Hajj and Umrah pilgrims.
Additionally, the Haemophilus influenzae vaccine has been included in the national immunisation schedule at 2, 4, and 6 months of age since February 2014, alongside the Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine for the prevention of tuberculous meningitis.
The ministry said that its health surveillance system works on two levels. The first is daily monitoring from all hospitals, where cases are quickly diagnosed and treated, results are recorded electronically, and preventive medicine like Rifampicin is given to close contacts for 10 days. The second involves testing spinal fluid samples in 12 selected fever hospitals.
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