Epidemic Meningococcal Meningitis, Cameroon
نویسندگان
چکیده
infections. Although we did not conduct a case–control study, these fi ndings also support the results of other studies that previously reported the demographic characteristics of patients with pandemic infl uenza infections and the risk factors for severe or fatal pandemic infl uenza infections (3,4), especially with respect to obesity (5). Evaluation of tissues collected during autopsy from patients with a suspected infectious process can provide an etiologic diagnosis that was not available from routine premortem and postmortem testing. Other etiologic agents detected in this study included reportable disease agents (e.g., Rickettsia rickettsii, Legionella pneumophila, dengue virus), vaccine-preventable diseases (e.g., pneumococcal, meningococcal diseases), and zoonotic agents (Leptospira and Capnocytophaga spp.). These fi ndings underscore the need for autopsies for diagnosing fatal infectious diseases (6). They also confi rm the need for coordinated surveillance programs that identify deaths potentially attributable to infectious causes, including the unexplained deaths program (7) and medical examiner infectious diseases death surveillance program (8). Partnerships of medical examiners and pathologists with local, state, and federal public health departments are crucial for detecting and monitoring pandemic diseases and for assessing the scope and magnitude of infectious agents that continuously affect human populations (9). These infections often result in sudden or unexplained death; thus, a standardized approach to death investigations is recommended.
منابع مشابه
Serogroup W135 Meningococcal Meningitis, Northern Cameroon, 2007–2008
We analyzed results of recent microbiologic surveillance of meningitis in northern Cameroon. During the 2007 and 2008 meningitis seasons, all 57 identified meningococcal isolates were serogroup W135. This situation might indicate that the area is experiencing a period between epidemic waves due to 2 different clones of serogroup A meningococci.
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1. Lapeyssonnie L. Cerebrospinal meningitis in Africa [in French]. Bull World Health Organ. 1963;28(Suppl):1–114. 2. Molesworth AM, Thomson MC, Connor SJ, Cresswell MP, Morse AP, Shears P, et al. Where is the meningitis belt? Defi ning an area at risk of epidemic meningitis in Africa. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg. 2002;96:242–9. doi:10.1016/S00359203(02)90089-1 3. Cuevas LE, Jeanne I, Molesworth A,...
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