Meningitis returns to Tripura, Meghalaya also affected

AGARTALA/SHILLONG - The deadly meningococcal meningitis viral disease, which killed more than 60 people earlier this year in Tripura, has returned to the northeastern state and led to more deaths, officials said here Friday.

At least six tribals died due to meningococcal meningitis this week in tribal-dominated Chawmanu areas of northern Tripura, they said.

Meghalaya, too, is battling the disease since last year.

“A medical team and a rapid response team (RRT) along with sufficient vaccines have been sent to the affected areas Thursday,” Pranab Chatterjee, an official in Tripura’s preventive medicine department, told IANS.

He said those who had not taken preventive vaccine during the mass vaccination earlier this year were affected this time.

According to Chatterjee, 60 people died and 290 fell ill due to this contagious viral disease earlier this year in northern Tripura, flanking Bangladesh.

The situation is also alarming in parts of Meghalaya, bordering Bangladesh.

Since last year, Meghalaya has recorded 1,800 cases of meningitis of which 1,400 are suspected cases while the others have been confirmed by laboratory tests. As many as 225 people have died of the disease.

The union health ministry had earlier sent a team of experts from the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) headed by the institute’s microbiology division chief, Sunil Gupta to both Meghalaya and Tripura.

“Soon after the outbreak of the disease in the latter part of January, we brought the matter to the notice of New Delhi based NICD and all the investigations and treatment were done according to their advice,” Tripura Health Minister Tapan Chakraborty said.

The NICD has asked the two north-eastern states to keep a close surveillance in remote locations, especially where the outbreak of the viral disease was reported.

“The two northeastern states have borders with the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) of south-east Bangladesh where meningococcal meningitis is spreading in an epidemic form,” an NICD official said.

The Tripura government has taken a slew of measures to control the disease by setting up makeshift health centres in the affected areas, while mass vaccination among the people of the affected and adjoining areas has been undertaken in both states.