Outbreak of Pneumococcal Meningitis, Paoua Subprefecture, Central African Republic, 2016–2017

Abstract

We report a pneumococcal meningitis outbreak in the Central African Republic (251 suspected cases; 60 confirmed by latex agglutination test) in 2016–2017. Case-fatality rates (10% for confirmed case-patients) were low. In areas where a recent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine campaign was conducted, a smaller proportion of cases was seen in youngest children.

Keywords

• meningitis
• pneumococcal meningitis
• outbreak
• meningitis/encephalitis
• Streptococcus pneumoniae
• bacteria