Diphtheria: Bauchi confirms 2 deaths from diphtheria outbreak in six LGAs

Two people have been confirmed dead following the outbreak of Diphtheria six LGAs of Bauchi State.

The confirmation was made on Wednesday by the Executive Chairman of the Bauchi State Primary Healthcare Development Agency (BASPHCDA), Dr Rilwanu Mohammed while briefing reporters at the Emergency Operations Centre (EOC), Bauchi.

Rilwanu Mohammed said that 58 samples have been collected from January to date saying, “Out of this number, three are confirmed diphtheria cases from the laboratory out of which two deaths have been reported in Jama’are local government area.”

The EC lamented that, “These cases are mostly among Fulani nomads and children with zero doses of immunizations.”

According to him, “The disease is among children between ages eight months to four years and there is a case of a seven years old. The agency had to close schools in Jama’are local government area because of the reported cases in a school.”

The executive chairman added that re-active vaccination will be conducted for all the pupils irrespective of immunization status in the schools.

On yellow fever, Mohammed said there was an outbreak in the state with 248 suspected cases from Dambam, Ganjuwa, and Jama’are local government areas.

According to him, “We have nine presumptive positive cases out of which five have been confirmed.”

The chairman however lamented the delay in confirming a positive case as it takes almost five to seven months for laboratory results to come out.

READ ALSO: Diphtheria: Kaduna confirms eight deaths, 68 suspected cases

According to him, “Samples from the state are taken to the National Reference Laboratory in Abuja, from where they are taken to Dakar, Senegal, that is the problem we are facing,”

He said that, “First of all, it was yellow fever in some part of the state, out of the 248 samples of yellow fever we took, only nine of them were presumptuous of diphtheria and are from Ganjuwa, Dambam, Gamawa LGAs.”

He added that, “It is very important to note that we have an outbreak of yellow fever in 2020 and 2021. It was very massive in Alkaleri LGA and part of Toro but this time around, it is in Ganjuwa, Dambam and Jama’are.”

The EC added that, “And you know that one of the vectors that brings about the issue of yellow fever is this anopheles mosquito which is found in the bush and most of the people, almost majority of them are Fulani.”

He also said that, “We have the problem of getting the results because after you have done the presumptuous test, you go to the National Lab to also do their own test and send it back here.”

Rilwanu Mohammed however assured that government is on top of the situation as it has mobilized to curtail it to remain in the affected LGAs while it is doing everything possible to see that it did not spread to the neighbouring LGAs.

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