The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has released an update on the outbreak of diphtheria, with Kano State recording the most confirmed cases.
In the report titled “Update on the Federal Government’s response to the Diphtheria Outbreak,” it was stated that the Federal Government, through the NCDC and the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), continues to respond to the diphtheria outbreaks across different states in the country since the disease re-emerged in December 2022.
There have been 11,587 reported suspected cases of the disease as of September 24th, with 7,202 confirmed cases in 18 states across the country, including the FCT, the report states.
Kano state tops the list for the most confirmed cases found in the 18 affected states, with 6,185 confirmed cases in Kano, followed by Yobe (640), Katsina (213), Borno (95), Kaduna (16), Jigawa (14), Bauchi (8), Lagos (8), FCT (5), Gombe (5), Osun (3), Sokoto (3), Niger (2), Cross River (1), Enugu (1), Imo (1), Nasarawa (1), and Zamfara (1).
The report also underscored the fatality rate of 6.3%, with 453 deaths said to have been recorded so far. Children aged 1–14 years are more likely to be affected by the disease, as the majority of the confirmed cases occurred among children aged 1–14 years, with those aged 5–14 suffering more from the disease.
The NCDC confirmed that the disease is a vaccine-preventable one and outlined measures on how the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (FMOH&SW), through its agencies, has been tackling the outbreak in order to reduce the level of escalation.