Diphtheria: Kano, Yobe top 27 affected states as death toll hits 137 – NCDC

The Diphtheria outbreak continues to pose a huge threat to Nigerian communities, affecting children in 27 states and with no fewer than 137 deaths and 1,534 confirmed cases recorded between May 2022 and 2023.

Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) Diphtheria Situation Report, on Tuesday, indicated that worst hits states in Nigeria were Kano and Yobe State, with Kano (1,055), Yobe (232), Kaduna (85), Katsina (58), Bauchi (47) and the Federal Capital Territory (18) accounting for 99.3 per cent of all suspected cases.

The latest report said a total of 1,506 suspected cases were reported from 11 states across 59 Local Government Areas, with 39 deaths recorded among all confirmed cases and a Case Fatality Rate (CFR) of 6.7 per cent.

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

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 rapid 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.”

According to the report, the majority of the 1,018 confirmed cases which account for 66.4 per cent occurred in children aged 1 – 14 years.

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

Diphtheria is a disease that affects most people without a vaccine. NCDC was first notified of suspected diphtheria cases in Kano and Lagos states on 01 December 2022.

Since week 1 of 2023, the outbreak of this deadly disease which began in December 2022 and into early 2023 has been at least 70% concentrated in Kano state.