HPA also requested any person who had recently been to Hajj without getting the mandatory meningitis vaccine or people who went to Hajj before 14 days upon getting their meningitis vaccine to stay on the look-out for the symptoms of meningococcal disease.
Meningitis Research Foundation
Just when people have started moving on from the COVID-19 pandemic that claimed so many lives since 2019, the Maldives was faced with another fear-mongering headline as a user on ‘X’ revealed that a case of Meningococcal disease has been detected in the Maldives. Although the name was unfamiliar to most who were hearing the term ‘meningococcal disease’ for the first time, just a quick google search led to the revelation that this is a rare yet serious illness which causes the meningitis - an infection of the brain and spinal cord which leaves up to one our of five patients with the disease with permanent disabilities.
Although the news was yet unverified by the Health Protection Agency (HPA) of the Maldives, soon after the claims were made on X on 25th June 2024, a statement was published by HPA, which confirmed that a ase of meningococcal disease had been detected in the Maldives. In their post HPA revealed that a case was detected from a Maldivian who had retired after performing the Hajj pilgrimage, and that contact tracing and other necessary measures were being taken in order to contain the spread of meningococcal disease in the Maldives.
With this, HPA also requested any person who had recently been to Hajj without getting the mandatory meningitis vaccine or people who went to Hajj before 14 days upon getting their meningitis vaccine to stay on the look-out for the symptoms of meningococcal disease.
The list of symptoms outlined in the HPA guideline include:
As the easiest way to contain the spread of meningococcal disease is getting vaccinated against the disease, HPA requested anyone who has the above symptoms following their Hajj pilgrimage that has not gotten vaccinated to get immediate medical attention.
This news not only caused many people to fear yet another high-risk disease spreading in the Maldives, but the news also came with its own sadness as it was soon revealed that a beloved national footballer, Mohamed Areef (Baka) had passed away after getting meningococcal disease. With this, citizens started to question how an individual was able to get access to this information before HPA was able to break the news to the public as well as questioning whether the Hajj corporation overlooked proper vaccination requirements for the Hajj pilgrims.
According to the press release from the Hajj Corporation, all the pilgrims who travelled to Saudi Arabia in order to complete their Hajj pilgrimage have gotten the proper vaccination necessary, which includes polio, meningitis as well as the influenza vaccine.
