Nigeria Records 453 Deaths, 11,587 Suspected Diphtheria Cases

Amidst concern over the spread of Diphtheria disease, the federal government said yesterday that Nigeria has recorded 453 casualties and 11,587 cases in 19 states of the federation.

Of the suspected cases, 7,202 were confirmed from 105 local government areas (LGAs) in 19 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

A breakdown of the figure showed that Kano State accounted for 6,185, 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 figures were revealed yesterday by the executive director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr Faisal Shuaib, during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.

Shuaib noted that 5,299 or 73.6 percent of the confirmed cases occurred among children aged one year to 14 years with those aged five -14 bearing most of the brunt of the disease.

He said, “So far, a total of 453 deaths have occurred in confirmed cases, giving a case fatality rate (CFR) of 6.3 per cent.”

Shuaib said the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare was aware of the mounting concern on the Diphtheria outbreak in several states with over 11,587 suspected cases

He said since the confirmation of the re-emergence of diphtheria, the federal government had continued to respond to the outbreaks across different states.

The NPHCDA said given the escalation of the outbreak and findings that 80 percent of confirmed cases were unvaccinated, the coordinating minister of health and social welfare, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, set up a national emergency task team co-chaired by himself.

“I am chairing the task force alongside the director-general of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (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 in FMoH, representatives of the Federal Ministry of Information, World Health Organisation (WHO), UNICEF, USCDC, USAID, GAVI, other non-governmental organisations and development partners,” Shuaib quoted the minister as saying.

Diphtheria was caused by a toxin produced by bacteria, Corynebacterium diphtheriae, and it is a vaccine-preventable disease covered by one of the vaccines provided routinely through Nigeria’s childhood immunisation schedule.

A historical gap in vaccination coverage is a driver of the outbreak given the most affected age group (five –14) and results of the nationwide diphtheria immunity survey that shows only 42 per cent of children under 15 years old are fully protected from diphtheria,” Shuaib said.