The Eastern Cape Health Department issued a press release saying “youngsters are becoming paranoid, claiming to have symptoms of meningitis” and demanding to be tested. Eleven children were admitted to East London's Frere Hospital last week as a precaution following the death of a 16 year old boy from meningitis. All were given a clean bill of health and discharged.
Luis da Silva, managing director of Healthbridge, an information technology company which ensures fast payment of medical bills so that doctors can spend more time diagnosing patients said: “We don't see patient records, but we have been told by hospitals, doctors and medical aids that there has been an increase in patients asking to be tested. All medical facilities are on high alert for these cases.
“We encourage parents to ensure their children are immunised as babies against this disease, it is costly but it is an investment in the child's life. And too, those travelling to areas where meningitis is a problem need to consult travel clinics before making the trip. It must also be remembered that South Africa has the highest HIV infection rate in the world and meningitis is a symptom in some during the final stages of AIDS.”
Traditionally meningitis occurs regularly in South Africa between May to October but Dr Gareth Lorge a Johannesburg specialist physician said he had three cases referred to him in one week by general practitioners. “Two were teenagers and one was a businessman, diagnosis is costly and painful, it includes an MRI scan and a lumbar puncture. Each patient had the tests, spent a night in hospital and was discharged with a clean bill of health.”
Da Silva said that Healthbridge had a unique overview of the industry and aimed to help doctors spend more time with patients to ensure a better diagnosis and to facilitate the capacity of hospitals and medical aids to treat patients more effectively. Healthbridge deals with more than half of all registered medical practitioners in South Africa, as well as all medical aids and private hospitals and radiologists as well as pathologists. “We know from long experience that prevention is better than cure. In these tough economic times, many people will be tempted to stop medical insurance or to skimp on costly immunisations for their children - like the meningitis vaccine, but the long term costs in terms of lives or medical bills is simply not worth it.”
Africa has seen a higher than normal surge in cases this year, according to the World Health Organisation. In early February, the Nigerian Ministry of Health reported 1,364 suspected cases of meningococcal disease including 108 deaths in 19 out of 35 states and Abuja. WHO reported: “So far 30 local government areas have crossed the alert or the epidemic threshold - 600 suspected cases including 40 deaths were reported across the country.”
And: “At least 35 people have died in more than 200 cases in a meningitis epidemic that has hit several districts in Uganda." In an: “African Meningitis belt, from Benin to Ethiopia,” 2 312 cases of meningitis were reported so far this year with 324 deaths. Other cases occurred in Burkino Faso, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Niger. WHO said “meningitis is spread from person to person rapidly with serious consequences.”
Eastern Cape health department spokesman Sizwe Kupelo said: “People are arriving at hospitals, demanding medication for the illness, but we can't just dish out medication. What we can do is admit them as a precaution,” Kupelo said. “Blanket prophylaxis is not an option, these are antibiotics, and if we treat people unnecessarily they could develop drug resistance.”
There had been only two confirmed meningitis cases in the Eastern Cape so far this year the 16 year old boy and a two year old girl who died on 14 March. Despite this Kupelo said the department was still being swamped with calls from anxious members of the public.
“Healthbridge has designed a number of technology-based solutions for doctors to ensure they get paid faster by medical aids to ensure they spend more time with patients listening to their fears and correctly diagnosing their ailments.
“We have also designed systems to ensure that waiting times before seeing a doctor at emergency rooms have been cut to just a few minutes instead of the hours experienced in public sector hospitals,” Da Silva said.
