Two people have reportedly died as a result of a Diphtheria epidemic in six Bauchi State local government districts.
Dr. Rilwanu Mohammed, Chairman of the Bauchi State Primary Healthcare Development Agency (BASPHCDA), confirmed the news yesterday while briefing health reporters at the Bauchi Emergency Operations Centre (EOC).
Mohammed, who revealed that 58 samples have been collected since January, stated, out of this number, three are confirmed diphtheria cases from the laboratory, out of which two deaths have been reported in Jama’are LGA.”
He bemoaned that “These cases are mostly among Fulani nomads and children with zero doses of immunizations.
“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 further stated that re-active vaccination would be administered to all students in the schools, regardless of immunization status.
Mohammed also spoke on the outbreak of yellow fever in the state.
According to Mohammed, there is a yellow fever outbreak in the state, with 248 suspected cases from the LGAs of Dambam, Ganjuwa, and Jama’are.
According to him, “We have nine presumptive positive cases, out of which five have been confirmed.”
He did, however, express concern about the time it takes to confirm a positive case because test results can take up to five months.
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 presumed to be diphtheria and are from Ganjuwa, Dambam, and Gamawa LGAs.
“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 the Toro area too, but this time around, it is in Ganjuwa, Dambam, and Jama’are LGAs.”
