The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, has confirmed the
outbreak of Cerebro Spinal Meningitis, CSM, in five states with at least
282 deaths related to the disease.
Chikwe Ihekweazu, the Chief Executive Officer of the centre, made this known to the News Agency of Nigeria on Thursday in Abuja.
Mr. Ihekweazu said that 1,966 suspected cases have been recorded
while 109 have been confirmed and being treated since the outbreak of
the disease in February in the country.
He said that the centre had deployed a response team to the affected
states to vaccinate the residents and control further spread of CSM.
According to him, Zamfara has the highest number of confirmed cases
of 44, followed by Katsina with 32, Sokoto 19, Kebbi 10 and Niger 4
confirmed cases.
He also said that there is an inter-agency response supporting the
states to contain the outbreak through the primary mode of vaccination.
However, Mr. Ihekweazu explained that a new strand of meningitis
called “stereotype C” has emerged in place of the previous known type
“stereotype A”, which has disappeared.
He regretted that there was not yet commercially available vaccine for this new stereotype “C” meningitis.
“There is a vaccine available but it is not commercially available
for the stereotype involved in this specific outbreak and we have to
make application to the World Health Organisation for the vaccines.
“Thankfully the vaccines have arrived and we have started vaccination
campaign in Zamfara. We are in the process of starting in Sokoto and
Kebbi states.
“We continue to advocate for scientists and for the global community
to really try and push to develop a vaccine for meningitis `C’, on the
other hand all we can do is prevention,” he said.
Ihekweazu said that prevention and early detection was key to
combating the disease, if detected early, it could be treated with
antibiotics.
He said that the centre was working with the states by supporting and ensuring they have the supplies to combat the disease.
“Meningitis is a tough disease especially during this period and it
is associated with over-crowding, understanding the living conditions in
the country, people must keep their building ventilated,” he said.
He urged Nigerians to avoid sleeping in overcrowded condition and if a
lot of people must sleep together in the same room, the windows and
doors must be open to allow enough ventilation.
The chief executive officer assured that the centre would work with
state governments in the North West and North Central, where most cases
were recorded, to ensure better preparation and avert similar outbreak
next year.
The Abuja authorities had earlier confirmed five deaths in the Nigerian capital.
The Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Primary Health Care Development
Board on Thursday confirmed the death of yet another person due to
cerebrospinal meningitis in the territory.
The News Agency of Nigeria reported on Wednesday that the board
recorded four deaths on Tuesday in Durumi area of Abuja Municipal Area
Council, AMAC.
The Executive Secretary of the board, Rilwanu Mohammed, said in an
interview in Abuja that another death from the disease occurred in
Dakwa, a border village of Bwari Area Council and Niger State on
Wednesday.
“The four suspected cases we have were all in Durumi I and II in AMAC
while one confirmed case of a child that just happened yesterday
(Wednesday) in Dakwa of Bwari area council.
“The four that died in Durumi showed all signs of meningitis but
there was an autopsy carried out in the one at Dakwa and was confirmed
to be meningitis at the University of Abuja Teaching hospital,
Gwagwalada.
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