review · BMC Infectious Diseases
Bacterial meningitis continues to pose a significant public health burden across the African continent. Historically, major epidemics were confined to the traditional meningitis belt, characterised by Sub-Saharan and Sudanian environmental conditions. However, the geographic reach of the disease has expanded beyond these established borders into more forested areas of central Africa. This geographic shift is accompanied by an ongoing epidemiological transition driven by global environmental shifts and extensive vaccination programmes directed at a single serogroup. Managing this changing health landscape effectively requires a more detailed understanding of the specific causative bacterial agents involved, as well as a comprehensive evaluation of both the immediate and broader environmental factors that influence outbreaks outside historical zones.
Bacterial meningitis is spreading into new African regions where populations and health systems may be unprepared for outbreaks. As single-serogroup vaccination and environmental changes reshape the patterns of disease, public health planners need updated surveillance to recognise emerging pathogens and regional risk factors beyond the historical epidemic belt.
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Bacterial meningitis remains a major public health problem in Africa today. Formerly concentrated in the region of the meningitis belt with Sub-Saharan and Sudanian environmental conditions, the disease extends now outside these historical limits to reach more forested regions in the central parts of the continent. With global environmental changes and massive vaccination targeting a unique serogroup, an epidemiological transition of bacterial meningitis is ongoing, requiring both a better consideration of the etiological nature of the responsible agents and of their proximal and distal determinants.
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DOI: 10.1186/s12879-021-06724-1
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