Nigerian authorities confirmed Friday the death of 25 people from a diphtheria outbreak in the northern state of Kano, but confirmed that cases have also been detected in Lagos – home to Africa’s most populous city – and that the situation is being monitored in Osun and Yobe.
The Commissioner of Health of Kano, Aminu Tsanyawa, has indicated that the authorities are assessing the situation to determine the precise number of deaths and has added that the Murtala Muhammad hospital has been designated as an isolation center, according to the Nigerian newspaper ‘Vanguard’.
«We also have three cases of lassa fever in the state,» he said, before adding that «people should not panic, but if they are aware that they are suffering from an unusual fever they should immediately go to the hospital.»
For its part, the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has issued an alert for the diphtheria outbreak and stressed that «in addition to the suspected clinical cases there are laboratory-confirmed cases.» «The NCDC is working with state ministries of health and partners to increase surveillance and response to the outbreak,» he said.
In this regard, it has issued a series of recommendations through a statement, including a request to families to «ensure that their children are fully vaccinated against diphtheria with three doses of pentavalent vaccine» and for health care workers to «maintain a high level of suspicion about diphtheria and look for symptoms of the disease (in potential patients).»
«Individuals with symptoms consistent with diphtheria should be isolated and reported to local authorities, state authorities and the NCDC through a toll-free hotline,» he has stressed, while adding that «close contacts of contacted cases should be closely monitored and given antibiotics.»
Diphtheria is an infection caused by the bacterium corynebacterium diphtheriae, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) through its web page, where it details that «sometimes the toxin passes into the bloodstream and causes complications such as inflammation and injury of the myocardium, inflammation of the nerves, kidney problems or bleeding disorders due to a drop in the level of platelets».
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
