HealthNewsNigeriaNCDC Confirms 1,534 Diphtheria Cases In Ten States

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention says 1,534 cases of diphtheria have been confirmed in the country, with 4,160 suspected cases reported in 139 local government areas in 27 states.

“The confirmed cases were distributed across 56 LGAs in 10 states. The majority [1,018 (66.4 per cent)] of the confirmed cases occurred in children aged one to 14 years,” NCDC said.

The NCDC which released the diphtheria situation report from May 2022 to July 2023 on its website with Kano having (1,207), Yobe (252); Bauchi (41); Katsina (nine); Lagos (eight); FCT (six); Kaduna (five), that Niger (two); Gombe (two); Osun (one); Jigawa (one); and Cross River (one).The report further said Kano (3,233), Yobe (477), Katsina (132), Kaduna (101), Bauchi (54), FCT (41) and Lagos (30) account for 97.8 per cent of the suspected cases.

The report highlighted that of the 4,160 suspected cases reported, 1,534 (36.9 per cent) were confirmed (87 lab-confirmed; 158 epid linked; 1,289 clinically compatible), 1,700 (40.9 per cent) were discarded, 639 (15.4 per cent) were pending classification and 287 (6.9 per cent) unknown.

The reported showed that 137 deaths were recorded among all confirmed cases (CFR: 8.9 per cent), and out of the 1,534 confirmed cases reported, 1,257 (81.9 per cent) were not fully vaccinated against diphtheria.