Kano Worst Hit as Diphtheria Kills 453

The Federal Government, on Monday, confirmed 7,202 cases of diphtheria out of the 11,587 suspected cases across 105 local government areas in 17 states and the Federal Capital Territory.

This was disclosed in a press statement jointly signed by the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, and other development partners.

The statement noted that most of the confirmed cases were recorded in Kano with 6,185 cases.

Other affected states are Yobe with 640 cases, Katsina (213), Borno (95), Kaduna (16), Jigawa (14), Bauchi (eight), Lagos (eight), FCT (five), Gombe (five), Osun (three), Sokoto (three), Niger (two), Cross River (one), Enugu (one), Imo (one), Nasarawa (one) and Zamfara (one).

It stated that 5,299 of the confirmed cases, which is 73.6 per cent, occurred among children aged one to 14 years with those aged five to 14 years bearing most of the brunt of the disease.

So far, a total of 453 deaths have occurred in confirmed cases, giving a case fatality rate of 6.3 per cent.

“Given the escalation of the outbreak and findings that 80 per cent of confirmed cases in the ongoing outbreak are unvaccinated, the Honourable Coordinating Minister of the FMOH&SW, Prof Ali Pate, set up a national emergency task team co-chaired by the Executive Director of the NPHCDA, the Director General of the NCDC for higher-level coordination of outbreak response efforts.

“This includes ensuring optimal collaboration of all relevant health stakeholders in this fight. Other prominent members of the task force include the Director of Public Health-FMOH, representatives from the Federal Ministry of Information, the World Health Organisation, the United Nations Children’s Fund, USCDC, USAID, Gavi the Vaccine Alliance, other non-governmental organisations and development partners,” the statement read in part.