ArticleThe Pan African medical journal2017
Evaluation of bacterial meningitis surveillance data of the northern region, Ghana, 2010-2015.
Article in The Pan African medical journal, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 16 citations in OpenAlex.
- The epidemiology of infectious meningitis in Ghana: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC public health · 2025Pooled it
- Etiologic Profile of the Pneumococcus in Ghana: A Systematic Review.BioMed research international · 2024Pooled it
- Review
- Epidemiology, clinical outcomes, and factors associated with mortality among cerebrospinal meningitis cases in the Upper West Region of Ghana: an eight-year surveillance study.BMC infectious diseases · 2026Article
- A twin disaster: Addressing the COVID-19 pandemic and a cerebrospinal meningitis outbreak simultaneously in a low-resource country.Global health action · 2020Article
- Bacterial meningitis in Sudanese children; critical evaluation of the clinical decision using clinical prediction rules.BMC pediatrics · 2019Article
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionBacterial meningitis is a disease of major public health importance especially for countries such as Ghana; whose northern part lies within the meningitis belt. The Northern region of Ghana has been recording cases with outbreaks over the years. In order to generate evidence to improve surveillance, we described the epidemiology of bacterial meningitis using surveillance data of the northern region.
methodsBacterial meningitis datasets from January 2010 to December 2015 for all the 26 districts of the Northern region were retrieved from line lists. Data were analyzed in terms of person, place, time, and identity of causative organisms using descriptive statistics. The results were presented as proportions, rates, tables and graphs.
resultsA total of 1,176 cases were reported. Of these, 53.5% (629/1,176) were males. The proportion of cases aged 0 to 29 years was 77.4%. The Overall Case Fatality Rate (CFR) was 9.7% (114/1,176). About 65% of all cases were recorded from January to April. Only 23.7% (279/1,176) of cases were laboratory-confirmed.
conclusionMost cases of bacterial meningitis were recorded in the dry season and in persons younger than 30 years. Less than a quarter of cases were laboratory confirmed, and no new bacteria species were identified. Both morbidity and mortality rates were on the decline. There is the need to consolidate these gains by intensifying meningitis surveillance and improving on the rate of laboratory case confirmation.
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