From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
Data from the Federal Ministry of Health & Social Welfare (FMOH&SW) has indicated that no fewer than 453 people have died as result of diphtheria as of September 24.
The data also indicated that as at September 24th, 2023, there have been 11,587 reported suspected cases of diphtheria, out of which 7,202 were confirmed cases from 105 Local Government Areas (LGAs) in 18 States including the FCT, and most (6,185) of the confirmed cases were recorded in Kano State.
Other States with cases are Yobe (640), Katsina (213), Borno (95), Kaduna (16), Jigawa (14), Bauchi (8), Lagos (8), FCT (5), Gombe (5), Osun (3), Sokoto (3), Niger (2), Cross River (1), Enugu (1), Imo (1), Nasarawa (1) and Zamfara (1).
It was, however, confirmed that the majority (5,299) of the confirmed cases occurred among children aged 1–14 years with those aged 5-14 years bearing most of the brunt of the disease.
The Federal ministry of health explained that 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 immunization schedule.
It added that a historical gap in vaccination coverage is the major driver of the outbreak given the most affected age group and results of the nationwide diphtheria immunity survey that showed that only 42 per cent of children under 15 years old are fully protected from diphtheria.
Minister of Health, Prof. Ali Pate, in a statement, on Monday, disclosed that a national emergency task team co-chaired by the Executive Director of the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr. Faisal Shuaib, and the Director General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Dr. Ifedayo Adetifa, has been set up for a higher level coordination of outbreak response efforts.
He said the task team will be responsible for the overall coordination of all activities encompassing government and development partners’ response activities at national and sub-national levels, as well as implementation of an Incident Management System (IMS) through the activation of a National Diphtheria Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) at NCDC.
He added that the team will be tasked with orchestrating the coordinated efforts of multiple response pillars during the outbreak, as well as deployment of National Rapid Response Teams (NRRT) to affected states of Kano, Yobe, Bauchi, Kaduna, Katsina, Lagos, Osun and FCT, to support response activities in the states.
Meanwhile, to reduce the risk of diphtheria, the federal ministry of health suggested that parents ensure that their children are fully vaccinated against diphtheria with the three doses of diphtheria antitoxin-containing pentavalent vaccine given as part of Nigeria’s childhood immunisation schedule.
Healthcare workers were also asked to maintain a high index of suspicion for diphtheria and practice standard infection prevention and control precautions while handling all patients in their care, while other healthcare workers with a high level of exposure to cases of diphtheria should be vaccinated against diphtheria.
The federal ministry of health, however, insisted that the most effective protection against diphtheria is vaccination with the Pentavalent or TD vaccine, and it’s provided free and safe, at all Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs) nationwide.
