Meningococcal meningitis in Mali: a long-term study of persistence and spread.

Objectives: Meningococcal meningitis (MM) is still a huge threat in the African meningitis belt. To fight against epidemics, a strengthened health information system, based upon weekly collected data, was set up in Mali. We aimed to study the spatio-temporal dynamics of MM in this country between 1992 and 2003.

Relationships between climate and year-to-year variability in meningitis outbreaks: a case study in Burkina Faso and Niger.

Background: Every year, West Africa is afflicted with Meningococcal Meningitis (MCM) disease outbreaks. Although the seasonal and spatial patterns of disease cases have been shown to be linked to climate, the mechanisms responsible for these patterns are still not well identified.

Results: A statistical analysis of annual incidence of MCM and climatic variables has been performed to highlight the relationships between climate and MCM for two highly afflicted countries: Niger and Burkina Faso.

Comparative study of meningitis dynamics across nine African countries: a global perspective.

Background: Meningococcal meningitis (MM) represents an important public health problem especially in the "meningitis belt" in Africa. Although seasonality of epidemics is well known with outbreaks usually starting in the dry season, pluri-annual cycles are still less understood and even studied. In this context, we aimed at study MM cases time series across 9 sahelo-sudanian countries to detect pluri-annual periodicity and determine or not synchrony between dynamics.