The Kano State Government has appealed to the Federal Government for additional diphtheria vaccines as part of efforts to contain the outbreak of the disease reported in Rano and other parts of the state.
The Punch reported that the Director-General of the Kano State Centre for Disease Control, Prof Muhammad Abbas, made the appeal during a press conference on Tuesday night following concerns raised by the state House of Assembly over the reported deaths of more than 50 children from diphtheria in Rano Local Government Area.
Abbas said the state had already written to the Federal Government requesting more vaccines to enable it to embark on mass immunisation across affected communities.
“Kano State has even written to the Federal Government to get more and more vaccines so that we vaccinate our people,” the KNCDC DG said.
He also urged residents, especially parents and caregivers, to promptly take suspected cases to healthcare facilities, stressing that early treatment could save lives.
“We are appealing to parents to please report early. Early presentation to healthcare facilities is what saves.
“And even if not medical conditions, all conditions, including social, if they are long and complicated, taking care of them is always difficult.
“So, please go to the healthcare facility near you. If the cases are epidemic-prone, they will alert us,” he said.
The KNCDC boss expressed concern over the failure of some residents to report suspected cases, noting that the state has 126 disease surveillance and notification officers deployed across its 44 local government areas.
He said the situation was particularly worrying because some deaths allegedly linked to diphtheria had not been reported to health authorities.
“So, it is really disheartening that we will have cases that are up to 50 that have not been reported to the hospital.
“We want to appeal to people: come to the clinics, come to the hospital. If the hospitals feel these cases are greater than what they can handle, they will refer them to us, and we will do the needful,” he said.
Abbas said the state disease control centre had continued to monitor the situation since the beginning of the administration of Governor Abba Yusuf.
According to him, more than 38,000 suspected diphtheria cases have been recorded in Kano from 2022 to date, with over 31,000 subsequently confirmed.
He disclosed that more than 55 per cent of the confirmed cases involved zero-dose children who had never received any vaccination, while over 16 per cent were partially immunised and another 10 to 15 per cent fell into the partially immunised category.
He said the figures highlighted the urgent need to strengthen vaccination coverage across the state.
“But the disheartening thing is that more than 55 per cent of those are what we call zero-dose children who have not received any form of vaccination.
“More than 16 per cent of the cases and another 10 to 15 per cent of them were partially immunised. Only a few of them were fully immunised, which means we have a very big deal in our hands.
“As I am speaking to you now, my team is in Rano. They want to dig out. Sometimes, certain deaths may be due to other diseases.
“In that situation, we carry out what we call verbal autopsy. We interview the parents and see what happened, what led to the death of these children,” he concluded.
The development followed a call by the Kano State House of Assembly on Monday for urgent government intervention over the reported diphtheria outbreak in Rano.
The motion of urgent public importance was moved by the member representing Rano Constituency, Ibrahim Muhammad, during plenary presided over by the Speaker, Ismail Falgore.
