It has been confirmed that the death toll of the Yellow Fever outbreak in Bauchi State has risen to 16 out of the 20 confirmed cases following the alleged rejection of vaccination by some citizens in the affected communities in the state.
The confirmation was given by the Executive Chairman of Bauchi State Primary Health Care Development Agency (BSPHCDA), Dr Rilwanu Mohammed while giving an update on the situation during an interaction with newsmen in his office in Bauchi on Friday night.
Rilwanu Mohammed disclosed that since the outbreak of yellow fever about a month ago, no fewer than 119 suspected cases were recorded out of which 20 cases were confirmed and 16 of the victims died.
He said: “We realised that all the people that rejected vaccination are the ones dying. The last three victims four days ago refused the vaccine and all three were infected. They took them to a traditional healer who did his own work but the two were still unconscious. They were later taken to Bauchi but all of them die.”
The Executive Chairman also said that all the cases were from Alkaleri local government area of the state where the case was first reported in Yankari Games Reserves explaining that, “we are planning to go into all the confirmed areas, about 55 places on Monday to carry outdoor spraying of all the lava sights and indoors spray and fumigation of all the communities.”
He disclosed that for visitors coming to Yankari Games Reserves, where the first three confirmed cases of Yellow Fever was recorded, vaccination points have been created while in all the chalets at the Reserve, mosquito nets have been provided to ensure that guests are well-protected.
Rilwanu Mohammed disclosed further that at least 21 states in Nigeria are having Yellow fever outbreak while only three states -Bauchi, Katsina and Ebonyi States are now active saying that only Alkaleri local government area in Bauchi State has confirmed cases of Yellow Fever because it is the depot for monkeys and chimpanzees.
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He thanked the Federal Government for supplying 500, 000 doses of vaccines to the state saying there have been 95 per cent compliance in the exercise.
He, however, explained that: “We have carried out vaccination of all the areas, including Yankari Games Reserve, and an aerial spray of affected communities. We carried out aerial spay of all the lava sights in Yankari and all the four communities around to kill the vector that carries the virus to humans.
“So, the lesson is that if you refuse vaccination you are not protected. All the people dying are the ones that refused to be vaccinated. We can only carry out supportive treatment for those infected because they already have the virus and there is no cure for the virus except prevention through vaccination and we thank God that there is vaccination,” he stated.
Rilwanu Mohammed revealed that there are plans to extend the vaccination to cover the entire state stating that: “The estimated population of Bauchi State is 7 million. We have given 500,000 doses of vaccines already for Alkaleri LGA so we are expecting 6.5 million doses of vaccines. We will not leave anybody unvaccinated in Bauchi State.”
It will be recalled that the yellow fever outbreak was reported when some students of College of Education in Borno state died after visiting Yankari Games Reserve and suddenly developed a sickness which was later confirmed to be yellow fever.
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