THE Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has 798 diphtheria cases in eight states across 33 Local Government Areas in the country.
The death toll has also risen to 80 with a case-fatality ratio of 10 per cent as of June 30, 2023.
The NCDC disclosed this today in a press statement signed by its Director General, Dr. Ifedayo Adetifa, following the first reported confirmed case of diphtheria in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
The Federal Capital Territory Administration had on Monday announced that the disease claimed the life of a four-year-old child in Deidei District of the FCT.
The NCDC, however, said the FCT Health and Human Services Secretariat has activated the diphtheria Incident Management System to coordinate outbreak response activities.
It said as of July 3, 2023, only one confirmed case has been detected in the FCT, with seven suspected cases testing negative while others are awaiting laboratory results.
The public health institute noted that since December 2022, diphtheria cases have been in Kano, Lagos, Yobe, Katsina, Cross River, Kaduna, Osun states, and the FCT.
It said Kano state leads with 782 cases.
“The majority (71.7 per cent) of the 798 confirmed cases occurred among children aged two to 14 years. So far, a total of 80 deaths have been recorded among all confirmed cases (case fatality rate of 10.0 per cent),” it said.
Diphtheria caused by a toxin produced by the bacteria Corynebacterium diphtheriae, is a vaccine-preventable disease covered by one of the vaccines provided routinely through Nigeria’s childhood immunisation schedule.
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