The Borno State Primary Healthcare Board says Diphtheria has so far killed 59 persons in the state.
The Director of Public Health, Ministry of Health in Borno State, Dr Goni Abba, announced that 216 samples were already collected and sent for examination.
He revealed that though the state’s rapid response team helped to contain the spread of the virus, there was more to do.
During an interview with Daily Trust, the medical practitioner noted that “29 samples were returned from the National Reference Laboratory.”
“In our response, we meet daily at the public health laboratory to brainstorm with our partners on a timely response to the diphtheria cases,” he added.
Abba identified some of the cases referred to the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH) to include those with difficulty in breathing and swallowing
“They need a tracheostomy to open the trachea for them to swallow and breathe.”
“Unlike how we started in July, cases are coming down, but the Ministry of Health and NCDC have been supporting us with drugs, and we also have the antitoxin, and children are being vaccinated.
“In a nutshell, we are responding positively to diphtheria and trying to bring all the cases under control.”
Reports have shown that the disease has already claimed about 600 people nationwide.
Meanwhile, recent figures from the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), reported on Thursday, October 19, revealed that 15,060 suspected cases of diphtheria have been reported nationwide, with 9,478 confirmed cases across 137 local government areas in 20 states, including the Federal Capital Territory.
The NCDC director-general, Dr Ifedayo Adetifa, said the breakdown by the state showed Kano has the highest number of cases at 7,747, followed by Yobe with 841 cases.
“The data also revealed that the majority of the confirmed cases, 71.5 per cent, were aged between 1-14 years, with infants accounting for less than one per cent of the cases.
“It was noted that most of the confirmed cases had not been vaccinated against diphtheria, with 59.8 per cent being either unvaccinated or partially vaccinated.”
