By Elohor Igbru
Nigeria has activated its public health emergency mood after it recorded 216 cases of diphtheria and 40 deaths in the country according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).
Diphtheria is a bacterial infection caused by the corynebacterium species that affect the nose, throat, and sometimes, skin of an individual.
According to public health experts symptoms of the disease could include fever, runny nose, sore throat, cough, red eyes, neck swelling, and difficulty in breathing, similar to the covid-19.
The NCDC in its latest diphtheria situation report said 189 new suspected cases were reported from three states – Kano: 172, Katsina: 9, and Lagos: 8.
The NCDC said from the 189 suspected cases reported, 56 were confirmed, 51 were discarded, 72 were pending classification and 10 were unknown and the confirmed cases were all from nine local governments in Kano state.
The report stated: “Cumulatively, a total of 523 suspected cases were reported – Kano: 396, Yobe: 78, Katsina: 34, Lagos: 14 and Osun: 1 states have been recorded. Of the 523 suspected cases reported, 216 (41.3%) were confirmed, 80 (15.3%) were discarded, 106 (20.3%) are pending classification while 121 (23.2%) were unknown.
“Majority (184 [85.2%]) of the confirmed cases occurred among cases aged 2 – 14 years. A total of 40 deaths were recorded among all confirmed cases. Only 27 out of 216 confirmed cases were fully vaccinated with a diphtheria toxin-containing vaccine.”
Some media reports have quoted Bola Lawal, lead of the diphtheria technical working group at the NCDC, saying poor vaccination against diphtheria has been the major driver of the outbreaks.
He said response efforts by the NCDC against the current outbreak include “development and dissemination of surveillance tools across the country, sensitisation/training of clinical and surveillance officers on the presentation, prevention, and surveillance for diphtheria and harmonisation of surveillance and laboratory data from across states and labs”.
