100 years of epidemic meningitis in West Africa - has anything changed? [editorial]

Invasive meningococcal infection is probably a relatively new disease. The first recorded outbreak occurred in Geneva in 1805. The following year typical cases of meningococcal meningitis (cerebro-spinal meningitis) were seen in New England and epidemics occurred across Europe and North America throughout the nineteenth century. In 1840 the first outbreak in Africa was reported among French troops based in Algiers and during the latter half of the 19th century several outbreaks occurred in Egypt and the Sudan. However it was not until 1905 that the first major epidemic in West Africa was reported. (excerpt)