Yaka P. auteur aut IRD Sultan Benjamin auteur aut IRD Broutin Hélène auteur aut IRD Janicot Serge auteur aut IRD Philippon S. auteur aut IRD Fourquet N. auteur aut IRD text journalArticle eng text/pdf born digital access Background: Every year, West Africa is afflicted with Meningococcal Meningitis (MCM) disease outbreaks. Although the seasonal and spatial patterns of disease cases have been shown to be linked to climate, the mechanisms responsible for these patterns are still not well identified. Results: A statistical analysis of annual incidence of MCM and climatic variables has been performed to highlight the relationships between climate and MCM for two highly afflicted countries: Niger and Burkina Faso. We found that disease resurgence in Niger and in Burkina Faso is likely to be partly controlled by the winter climate through enhanced Harmattan winds. Statistical models based only on climate indexes work well in Niger showing that 25% of the disease variance from year-to-year in this country can be explained by the winter climate but fail to represent accurately the disease dynamics in Burkina Faso. Conclusion: This study is an exploratory attempt to predict meningitis incidence by using only climate information. Although it points out significant statistical results it also stresses the difficulty of relating climate to interannual variability in meningitis outbreaks. specialized 050 7 34 2 2008 1476-072X https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010042740 10.1186/1476-072X-7-34 1476-072X [F B010042740] https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010042740 https://www.documentation.ird.fr/intranet/publi/2008/09/010042740.pdf Accès réservé (Intranet de l'IRD) IRD - Base Horizon / Pleins textes 2008-10-06 2017-08-23 fdi:010042740 fre