NCDC confirms 1,534 cases of diphtheria

There have been verified instances of diphtheria in 1,534 people in Nigeria, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.

4,160 suspected cases have been recorded in 139 local government districts across 27 states, it was said.

The NCDC reported that the confirmed cases were spread across 56 LGAs in Kano (1,207), Yobe (252), Bauchi (41), Katsina (nine), Lagos (eight), FCT (six), Kaduna (five), Niger (two); Gombe (two); Osun (two); Jigawa (one); and Cross River (one) in its diphtheria situation report from May 2022 to July 2023, which was published on its website.

According to the research, 97.8% of the suspected cases are located in Kano (3,233), Yobe (477), Katsina (132), Kaduna (101), Bauchi (54), FCT (41), and Lagos (30).

According to the study, out of the 4,160 suspected cases that were reported, 1,534 (36.6%) were confirmed (including 87 lab-confirmed cases, 158 epid-linked cases, and 1,289 clinically compatible cases), 1,700 (40.9%) were deleted, 639 (15.4%) were awaiting classification, and 287 (6.7%) were unclassified.

“The confirmed cases were spread out among 56 LGAs in 10 states,” it said. The majority of confirmed cases (1,018 or 66.4%) involved children between the ages of one and 14.

A further 137 fatalities were noted among all confirmed cases (CFR: 8.9%), and it was emphasized that 1,257 (81.9%) of the 1,534 confirmed patients reported were not properly protected against diphtheria.