Meningitis has been ruled out as the cause of deaths of students at Kumasi Academy in the Ashanti region.

Addressing the media today [Tuesday], the Ashanti Regional Director of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr. Emmanuel Tenkorang, said “we have done all the tests for meningitis. They are negative, so it shows that the condition is not meningitis.”

He added: ‘’ “We suspect that, most probably, there was an atypical bacterial infection, and that is the reason why we have this crisis. From the pathologist report, we believe there was an infection and most probably, it is a bacterial infection, and because of the fatalities, it is one of the atypical bacteria that we are dealing with.’’

The medical team working in the school would be administering antibiotics to the students and staff of the school to prevent the infection from spreading before the school is closed down on Friday.

According to him, the Health Service officials are partnering with a medical team from the World Health Organization to screen and treat students who have been infected.

He said after administering the antibiotics, the team will conduct an intensive survey in the school find the possible source of the bacteria.

“From there, we will do an intensive survey in the school. We will scan the entire environment, we will investigate the kitchen, investigate every staff and the environment to see if there is any infection hiding somewhere that is causing this problem.”