Kano, Yobe Most Affected States As NCDC Reveals Diphtheria Killed 137, Confirmed 1534 Cases In 14 Months

No fewer than 137 deaths and 1,534 confirmed cases were recorded from diphtheria between May 2022 and 2023 in Nigeria, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) Diptheria Situation Report, which said Kano and Yobe State are the most affected.

The latest report, which was disclosed on Tuesday showed a total of 1,506 suspected cases were reported from 11 states across 59 Local Government Areas.

A total of 39 deaths were recorded among all confirmed cases with a Case Fatality Rate(CFR) of 6.7 per cent.

“Of the 1,506 suspected cases reported, 579 (38.5%) were confirmed (29 lab confirmed; 114 epid linked; 436 clinically compatible), 650 (43.2%) were discarded, 205 (13.6%) are pending classification & 72 (4.8%) were unknown,” NSCDC report stated.

The organization also said, Kano (1,055), Yobe (232), Kaduna (85), Katsina (58), Bauchi
(47) and the Federal Capital Territory (18) accounted for 99.3 per cent of all suspected cases.

Cumulatively for May 2022 to July 2023, it said, “A total of 4,160 suspected cases have been reported from 27 states across 139 LGAs in the country,

“Kano (3,233), Yobe (477), Katsina (132), Kaduna (101), Bauchi (54), FCT (41) & Lagos (30) account for 97.8% of suspected cases.

“Of the 4,160 suspected cases reported, 1,534 (36.9%) were confirmed (87 lab confirmed; 158 epid linked; 1,289 clinically compatible), 1,700 (40.9%) were discarded, 639(15.4%) are pending classification & 287 (6.9%) unknown.

“The confirmed cases were distributed across 56 LGAs in eleven (11) States. ” the report read partly.

It noted that the majority of the 1,018 confirmed cases which account for 66.4 percent occurred in children aged 1 – 14 years.

It added that a total of 137 deaths were recorded among all confirmed cases with CFR of 8.9 per cent.

NCDC said, out of the 1,534 confirmed cases reported, 1,257 which is 81.9 per cent
were not fully vaccinated against diphtheria.