The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) has registered a total of 253 suspected diphtheria cases in four states between December 1, 2022 and the third week of January 2023.
The NCDC via its official website today (February 1, 2023), said that the four states were Kano (169), Yobe (78), Lagos (5) and Osun (1).
Also, the public health agency announced that the country confirmed 111 cases of diphtheria with 22 deaths in the same period.
It said that Kano, the second most populous city in Nigeria after Lagos,
has the highest burden of confirmed cases – 107, with 21 confirmed deaths.
Lagos reported one confirmed case with one death; Yobe with two confirmed cases and no death while Osun has one confirmed case with no death.
Science Nigeria reports that a week ago, the NCDC had reported 123 confirmed cases with 38 deaths, indicating that the figure first reported earlier by the agency was not accurate, as the data sent in by the states were for suspected diphtheria cases and not for confirmed cases.
This explained the decrease in the number of confirmed cases and deaths in the latest report.
Meanwhile, the agency disclosed that the surveillance for diphtheria is still a challenge being worked on with partners at the state level.
The first situation report published for diphtheria offers the correct data for suspected cases and confirmed cases.
“Between the first and third week of January, a total of 132 suspected cases were reported from two states: Kano 130 (98.5 per cent) and Yobe 2 (1.5 per cent).
“Of the suspected cases reported, 89 (67.4 per cent) were confirmed (clinically compatible), six (4.5 per cent) were discarded and 37 (28.0 per cent) are pending classification.
“During the same period, confirmed cases were all from 12 local government areas of Kano State. Nine deaths were recorded from all the confirmed cases (CFR: 10.1 per cent).
“Between December 1, 2022 and the third week in January, a total of 253 suspected cases were reported: Kano (169), Yobe (78), Lagos (5) and Osun (1).
“Of the suspected cases reported, 111 (42.1 per cent) were confirmed (eight labs confirmed and 103 clinically compatible), 18 (7.1 per cent) were discarded, 40 (15.3 per cent) are pending classification, while 84 (33.2 per cent) were unknown.
“Majority (91.9 per cent) of the confirmed cases occurred in those aged 2 to 14 years. A total of 22 deaths (CFR = 19.8 per cent) were recorded among confirmed cases.
“Only 12 (10.8 per cent) out of 111 confirmed cases were fully vaccinated with a diphtheria toxin-containing vaccine,” it explained.
