Diphtheria: Bauchi Confirms Two Deaths, Outbreak in SIx LGAs

Segun Awofadeji in Bauchi

Two persons have been confirmed dead following the outbreak of Diphtheria in six local government areas of Bauchi State.

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

Mohammed, who disclosed that 58 samples have been collected from January to date, said: “Out of this number, three are confirmed diphtheria cases from the laboratory out of which two deaths have been reported in Jama’are LGA.”

The chairman lamented that: “These cases are mostly among Fulani nomads and children with zero doses of immunisations

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

The chairman added that re-active vaccination would be conducted for all the pupils irrespective of immunisation 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 LGAs.

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

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

Mohammed said: “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.

“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 which were presumptuous of diphtheria and are from Ganjuwa, Dambam, Gamawa LGAs.”

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

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

He added: “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.”

Mohammed, however, assured the state that the government is on top of the situation, as it has mobilised 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.