The Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Ifedayo Adetifa, has disclosed that about 15,060 suspected cases of diphtheria infections have been recorded in the country.
Adetifa explained that 9,478 cases have been confirmed in 137 local government areas across 20 states including the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
While speaking at a recent press briefing in Abuja, he disclosed that 71.5 percent of the confirmed cases were between the ages of one and 14 years, with infants making less than one per cent of the cases.
Adetifa said data reveals that Kano has the highest number of cases at 7,747, followed by Yobe with 841 cases.
He added: “Bauchi State recorded 369 infections, followed by Katsina – 275, Borno – 164, Jigawa – 24, Kaduna – 18, Lagos – eight, Zamfara – seven, FCT – seven, Gombe – five, Sokoto – four, Osun – three, and Niger State- two cases.”
He stated that Cross River, Enugu, Imo, Nasarawa, Kebbi, and Taraba states recorded one case of diphtheria infection each.
While speaking at the briefing, the Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, Faisal Shuaib, said a total of 1,692,762 children, between six months and four years of age, had been diligently administered the Pentavalent vaccine in a bid to safeguard them against this disease.
He revealed further that an impressive 3,166,419 children between age four and fourteen had received the TD vaccines, further protecting the country from the disease among children and teenagers.
