The World : Epidemic Grips Khartoum

Hospitals were jammed with patients in Khartoum as a deadly meningitis epidemic gripped the capital of Sudan. Official figures show that 4,000 of the capital’s 4 million people have the disease. The government on March 15 said 82 people had died of meningitis throughout the country. No further death toll has been given, but press reports say the figure is now well over 100. Health officials said 250 new cases were reported every day in the last week of March. Khartoum’s governor, Karam Mohammed Karam, declared the city an epidemic area on March 15 and ordered the indefinite closure of public places such as movie houses, nurseries and private schools.