OUAGADOUGOU -- A meningitis epidemic has killed more than 800 people in three months in Burkina Faso, the country's Health Ministry announced Tuesday.

It said the ministry has decided to halt all vaccinations, which appear to be ineffective against a new form of the deadly infection and which are also costly.

The ministry recorded 813 deaths from meningitis in the first three months of the year, out of 6,145 cases.

In 2001 a meningitis epidemic killed 1,769 people out of a total of 12,790 cases reported in the west African country, according to official figures, quoted by AFP .