Posted by From a total of 481 instances of diphtheria reported across the state’s 14 LGAs, 59 people have sadly lost their lives.
On Wednesday in Maiduguri, Borno State’s Director of Public Health at the Ministry of Health, Goni Abba, revealed the news.
It was said that “about 20 cases are currently on admission and 216 samples were taken to the National Reference Laboratory in Abuja for analysis.”
A total of 29 samples were returned from the National Reference Laboratory, he said, and as a result, the public health laboratory is holding daily brainstorming sessions with its partners to figure out how to deal with the diphtheria outbreak as soon as possible.
The director stated that the most critical cases of diphtheria were referred to the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital because the youngsters involved were unable to swallow or breathe normally.
He said the children required a tracheostomy in order to be able to eat and breathe normally.
Abba said the diphtheria outbreak and deaths were contained after local government fast reaction teams were supplied with medications and antitoxins by the state government.
Cases are decreasing, he said, noting that the Ministry of Health and the NCDC have been providing them with medications, that they have the antitoxin, and that youngsters are being vaccinated. This is in contrast to the situation in July.
He gave his word that measures are being taken to get the diphtheria situation under control.