Meningitis

Meningococcal meningitis can kill up to 50 percent of people infected if left untreated.

It is a bacterial form of meningitis, a serious infection of the thin lining that surrounds the brain and spinal cord.

Meningococcal meningitis occurs throughout the world but the vast majority of infections and deaths are in Africa, particularly across the "meningitis belt", stretching from Senegal in the west to Ethiopia in the east. 

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there were over 900,000 cases in the area in the last 20 years (1995-2014). Around 30,000 cases are still reported each year. 

Meningitis news and stories