The Kano State Centre for Disease Control, KNCDC, says it has commenced investigation into the reported death of more than fifty children in Kano Local Government Area following suspected cases of diphtheria.
The Director-General of KNCDC stated this during a briefing at the centre’s headquarters in Kano, following concerns raised by the Kano State House of Assembly over the reported deaths.
He said the centre had officially recorded thirty-two diphtheria cases in Kano Local Government Area this year, with twenty-five of the cases reported in August, six in July and one in May.
According to him, seven of the thirty-two patients were admitted to the Infectious Disease Hospital, IDH, the designated isolation and treatment centre for diphtheria cases in Kano.
The Director-General said an active case search conducted on August nineteenth, following four reported cases on August thirteenth, led to the identification of ten additional cases and two deaths.
He attributed the disparity between the officially reported cases and the reported deaths of more than fifty children to late reporting, with some patients being treated at home or by traditional healers instead of seeking medical attention.
He explained that KNCDC was conducting verbal autopsies by interviewing relatives of some of the deceased to determine the circumstances surrounding their deaths and establish whether they were caused by diphtheria or other illnesses.
The Director-General urged parents and caregivers to promptly take children with suspected symptoms of diphtheria to health facilities, warning that late presentation could lead to severe complications and death.
He disclosed that Kano State had recorded more than thirty-eight thousand suspected diphtheria cases since the outbreak began in twenty twenty-two, with over thirty-one thousand subsequently confirmed.
He said more than fifty-five per cent of the confirmed cases involved zero-dose children who had never received any vaccination, while about sixteen per cent were partially immunised, stressing the need to intensify vaccination across the state.
The KNCDC boss said the state government had continued to provide medicines and other medical consumables for the treatment of diphtheria, while the centre conducts reactive vaccination and provides preventive treatment to contacts whenever cases are detected.
He commended the Kano State Government and the House of Assembly for their support and appealed to residents to report suspected infectious diseases promptly to primary, secondary or tertiary health facilities to facilitate early intervention and prevent further deaths.