Diphtheria is a highly contagious infection that can cause breathing difficulties and heart problems that can be fatal, particularly in children.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) has announced an outbreak of diphtheria in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) following the first case and death of a four-year-old child in June.
In a statement Thursday, the NCDC said there have been multiple outbreaks across the country since December 2022. These outbreaks have confirmed 798 diphtheria cases in 33 Local Government Areas (LGAs) in eight states, including the FCT.
The NCDC added that 80 deaths have been recorded among all confirmed cases, with a case fatality rate of 10.0 percent. Diphtheria is a highly contagious infection that can cause breathing difficulties and heart problems that can be fatal, particularly in children.
Prevalent among children
The NCDC says Kano State accounts for the majority of confirmed cases. Other states are Lagos, Yobe, Katsina, Cross River, Kaduna, and Osun. The NCDC added that the majority (71.7 percent) of the 798 confirmed cases occurred among children aged 2–14 years.
Despite diphtheria being a vaccine-preventable disease, the NCDC noted that 654 (82 percent) of the 798 confirmed cases of the ongoing outbreak were unvaccinated. The disease control center advised parents to ensure their children are fully vaccinated against the disease with three doses of the antitoxin-containing pentavalent vaccine given as part of Nigeria's childhood immunization schedule. It also urged healthcare workers to maintain a high level of suspicion for diphtheria.
NCDC response
In response to the outbreak in December 2022, the NCDC said it activated a multi-sectoral national Diphtheria Technical Working Group as a mechanism for coordinating surveillance and response activities across the country.
"The response activities include coordination, surveillance, laboratory investigation, risk communication, case management, and immunization activities," it noted. NCDC said it deployed Rapid Response Teams (RRT) to some of the affected states (Kano, Katsina, Lagos, Osun, and Yobe) to support response activities in the states.
It added that it facilitated the development and dissemination of surveillance tools across the country to support active case finding across affected states.
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