Fresh meningitis outbreak kills nine, infects 72 in 10 states

Fresh meningitis outbreak kills nine, infects 72 in 10 states

There is a reported outbreak of Cerebro Spinal Meningitis (CSM) in 10 states across Nigeria, a Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) report has said.

The report said meningitis has killed nine and infected 72 persons in Katsina, Zamfara, Jigawa, Yobe, Bauchi, Ebonyi, Sokoto, Kano, Bayelsa and Ondo states.

Guardian reports that the figures released by the centre showed that Katsina recorded most of the cases and deaths followed by Zamfara, Jigawa, Ebonyi and Bauchi.

However, no deaths were recorded in Sokoto, Kano, Yobe, Bayelsa and Ondo.

The report also showed that 15 new suspected monkey pox cases of which six confirmed cases were recorded in Rivers (one), Bayelsa (two), Delta (one), Cross Rivers (one) and Edo (one).

"As the dry season begins, we expect increase in the number of CSM cases in Nigeria. This is the first SitRep for the 2018/2019 season.

“The National Technical Working Group for Cerebrospinal Meningitis has been preparing ahead of the 2018/2019 meningitis season. States in the meningitis belt were formally placed on alert on the 8th of November 2018,” the NCDC stated.On Yellow fever outbreak, the NCDC noted that from the onset of the outbreak in September 2017 to date, 3,902 suspected cases have been reported from all 36 States and the FCT in Nigeria," the report noted.

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Also, NCDC said that out of 3295 samples collected and tested, 185 were presumptive positive in-country and were sent for confirmation to IP in Dakar.

So far, 78 positive cases from Kwara, Kogi, Kano, Zamfara, Kebbi, Nasarawa, Niger, Katsina, Edo, Ekiti, Rivers, Anambra, FCT and Benue states ave been confirmed.

The centre added that Yellow fever preventive mass vaccination campaigns have been conducted in Borno, Kebbi, Niger, Plateau, Sokoto and the FCT between November 22, 2018 and December 2, 2018, bringing the total states covered by preventive mass vaccination campaign to 12.

On Monkey pox, the NCDC said Nigeria continues to report sporadic cases of the disease since the beginning of 2018 as 114 suspected, 45 confirmed, one probable cases and one death have been reported in the year while 45 cases confirmed were recorded in Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta, Oyo, Cross River, Edo, Enugu, Imo, Lagos, Plateau, Abia, Anambra and Nasarawa states.

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Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that on Thursday, March 30, 2017, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) confirmed the outbreak of Cerebro Spinal Meningitis (CSM) in five states with 282 deaths.

Legit.ng reported that Chikwe Ihekweazu, the Chief Executive Officer of the centre, said that 1,966 suspected cases have been recorded while 109 have been confirmed since the outbreak of the disease in February in the country.

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Source: Legit.ng

Authors:
Nnenna Ibeh avatar

Nnenna Ibeh Nnenna Ibeh is a journalist with over 10 years of experience with various media organisations including Premium Times. Being on the front burner of reporting politics and the different dimensions of governance, she is also passionate about girls' education and women's and children's health. With degrees in Journalism, Peace Studies & Conflict Res., and Dev. Studies, Nnenna has worked in the dev. sector as a communications officer for the Centre for Democracy and Dev. email: ibehnnenna@gmail.com