OUAGADOUGOU (Reuters) - Health officials in the west African country of Burkina Faso are worried about an increase in deaths from meningitis which has killed 246 people so far this year, up from 203 in the same period last year. Meningitis, a disease that inflames the lining of the brain and can be transmitted by mosquitoes, tends to strike countries in ...

A meningitis epidemic has killed 246 people in Burkina Faso since the start of the year, the health ministry announced Thursday. "From the beginning of the year 2010 to February 21, we have a total of 1,596 suspected cases of meningitis, with 246 deaths reported in all health districts" of the country, the ministry's director of the campaign ...

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said he would make an unscheduled stop in Bamako later Wednesday to meet freed French hostage Pierre Camatte, who was released by Al-Qaeda militants in Mali. Sarkozy said during a visit to Gabon that he wanted to "thank President Amadou Toumani Toure and to meet Pierre Camatte." Speaking to the French community in Libreville, Sarkozy delivered ...