Table 2.

Characteristics of localised epidemics in six sanitary districts, Burkina Faso, 2004-2008.

Year	District	Number of HC with LEs	Calendar week of epidemic declaration at the district level	Calendar week when LE definition was met in the HC (median, range)	Duration of individual LE, median (range) *	Total population in HC with LE, (% of district population)	Predominant agent if laboratory-confirmation during localised epidemic †	Peak WIR in HC with LE, median (range)
2005
	Orodara	2	no declaration	8 (7-9)	2.5 (2-3)	4,050 (2)	-	318 (169-468)
2006
	Dandé	2	11	13 (12-14)	2.5 (2-3)	6,850 (3)	28 NmA/31 (2)	261 (202-320)
	Houndé	8	9	11.5 (10-14)	3 (2-5)	55,180 (25)	30 NmA/30 (2)	191 (115-278)
	Secteur 15	10	5	10 (4-14)	5 (2-12)	97,770 (25)	30 NmA/31 (1)	343 (100-1860)
2007
	Boulsa	2	8	10 (7-13)	6 (2-10)	25,390 (9)	8 NmA/3 Sp/15 (3)	190 (93-286)
	Dandé	1	12	14	3 (2-5)	14,290 (6)	-	91
	Houndé	1	12	13	2	5,640 (2)	2 NmA/1 Sp/3 (1)	124
	Orodara	3	11	13 (12-14)	3 (2-6)	28,570 (10)	10 NmA/2 Sp/12 (1)	104 (94-582)
2008
	Boulsa	2	10	10.5 (10-11)	5 (4-6)	13,830 (5)	11 NmA/5 Sp/16 (3)	276 (185-366)
	Orodara	1	8	8	6	2,490 (1)	4 NmA/4 (1)	561

A localised epidemic (LE) was defined at the health centre level as 75 suspected meningitis cases reported per 100,000 inhabitants during at least two consecutive weeks, with a minimum of five cases within at least one week.

WIR, weekly incidence rate

HC, health centres

LE, localised epidemic

NmA, meningococcal serogroup A

* In weeks, includes the week before definition was met

† Number of epidemic agent over number of laboratory-confirmed bacterial meningitis cases

(1) AMP Mobile laboratory [25]

(2) Laboratory surveillance by PCR at Centre Muraz, Bobo-Dioulasso [23]

(3) District level data as reported by Ministry of Health, Epidemiological surveillance department. Burkina Faso