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Diphtheria: NCDC confirms 1,534 cases, 137 deaths
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has identified 1,534 diphtheria cases in the country.
According to the NCDC, a total of 4,160 suspected cases have been reported from 27 states and 139 Local Government Areas across the country.
This was stated by the NCDC in its diphtheria situation report from May 2022 to July 2023, which was published on its website.
The confirmed cases were distributed across 56 LGAs in Kano (1,207), Yobe (252); Bauchi (41); Katsina (nine); Lagos (eight); FCT (six); Kaduna (five).
Others are Niger (two); Gombe (two); Osun (one); Jigawa (one); and Cross River (one).
The report noted that Kano (3,233), Yobe (477), Katsina (132), Kaduna (101), Bauchi (54), FCT (41), and Lagos (30) account for 97.8 percent of the suspected cases.
The report partly read, “Of the 4,160 suspected cases reported, 1,534 (36.9 percent) were confirmed (87 lab-confirmed; 158 rapid linked; 1,289 clinically compatible), 1,700 (40.9 percent) were discarded, 639 (15.4 percent)are pending classification and 287 (6.9 percent) unknown.
“The confirmed cases were distributed across 56 LGAs in 10 states. The majority [1,018 (66.4 percent)] of the confirmed cases occurred in children aged one to 14 years.
“A total of 137 deaths were recorded among all confirmed cases (CFR: 8.9 percent). Out of the 1,534 confirmed cases reported, 1,257 (81.9 percent) were not fully vaccinated against diphtheria.”
Diphtheria caused by a toxin produced by the bacteria Corynebacterium diphtheriae, is a vaccine-preventable disease covered by one of the vaccines provided routinely through Nigeria’s childhood immunization schedule.
