Meningococcal meningitis

Notification class: Class 1 notifiable eventHealth care providers report it immediately on suspicion to the Medical Officer of Health at their parish health department, or to the National Surveillance Unit, within 24 hours of contact.
Category: Vaccine-preventable diseases

Case definition

Sudden onset of fever, intense headache, nausea, vomiting, lethargy, and frequently, petechial rash.

Specimen

Blood and CSF

Laboratory

Hospital Bacteriology Lab or National Public Health Lab for culture

Timeline for investigation

48 hours

Source: National Surveillance Manual

How it’s monitored

Notified as it occurs and followed up with an investigation report. The weekly bulletin gives confirmed cases for the year to date, beside last year’s.

The figures

The National Surveillance Unit publishes the latest figures every week.

Weekly bulletins

Dashboards

For health professionals

Case definitions

Forms

How to report