Kano Leads With 97% As Nigeria Records 389 Suspected Diphtheria Cases

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control has revealed that no fewer than 377 suspected cases of Diphtheria — a serious infection caused by strains of bacteria called Corynebacterium diphtheriae — were reported from seven states across the country with Kano accounting for 355 (96.8%) of the suspected cases.

Out of the reported cases, 102 (27.1 percent) were confirmed, 113 were discarded, 148 are pending classification and the statuses of 14 were unknown.

It said, six deaths were recorded from the confirmed cases with a Case fatality rate (CFR) of 5.8 percent in week 09 2023 of its situation report.

Cumulatively, a total of 1,064 suspected cases were reported from 12 States between week 19 in 2022 and week 09 in 2023. Kano ( 843), Yobe ( 86), Katsina (46), Lagos( 22), Sokoto (14), and Zamfara (13) accounted for 96.2 percent of the total suspected cases of Diphtheria.

The report further stated that “of the 1,064 suspected cases reported, 389(36.6 percent) were confirmed( 45 were lab confirmed, 343 clinically compatible and 1 was epidemiologically linked), 322( 30.3 percent were discarded, 201(18.9 percent) are pending classification & 152( 14.3 percent) are unknown”

The total confirmed cases were revealed to have been distributed across 24 Local government areas in six(6) States.

The report disclosed that the majority of total confirmed cases, 305 (78.4 percent), occurred among children of age 2- 14 years.

It said a total of 62 deaths were recorded among all confirmed cases with a Case fatality rate of 15. 9 percent.

According to the report, “Only 60 (15.4 percent) out of the 389 confirmed cases were fully vaccinated with a Diphtheria toxin-containing vaccine”