The Kano State Centre for Disease Control (KNCDC) said it has officially recorded two deaths in Rano Local Government Area as a result of diphtheria.
The centre’s Director-General, Prof. Muhammad Adamu-Abbas, disclosed this while addressing newsmen at the centre to clear the air on reports making the rounds that 50 children reportedly died as a result of diphtheria in the area.
The News Agency of Nigeria recalls that a member representing Rano constituency at the Kano state House of Assembly, Ibrahim Muhammad, had during a plenary session called for urgent intervention by the state government over reported cases of diphtheria that claimed 50 lives in the area.
Adamu-Abbas said its official record, based on daily reports from its representatives in Rano Local Government Disease Surveillance and the Notification Officer and assistant, showed two deaths.
He said that the other cases were not officially reported in the facility.
He further noted that the centre would conduct verbal autopsy to unravel circumstances surrounding the deaths.
“The member representing Rano local government presented cases of over 50 children who died in Rano. In the KNCDC, we have two representatives in Rano local government called the Local Government Disease Surveillance and Notification Officer and the Assistant Local Government Disease Surveillance and Notification Officers who give us daily reports.
“What we have after our active case search was 10 cases and 2 deaths. But as I am speaking to you now, my team is in Rano to dig out on the matter. Sometimes, certain deaths may be due to other diseases. In that situation, we carry out what we call verbal autopsy,” he said.
Adamu-Abbas expressed concern over the late presentation of suspected cases at health facilities, saying some residents preferred to manage sick children at home or take them to traditional healers.
He said such delays could worsen the condition of patients and increase the risk of transmission.
“We advise people to go to the clinics, hospitals, primary, tertiary, and secondary hospitals to report cases, not to wait until the cases are bad. The second category is those who have not been well vaccinated. The Kano State Government has written to the Federal Government to get more vaccine to vaccinate the people.
“So, we are appealing to Kano residents to please go to the healthcare facilities,” he said.
The D-G also said that the state had confirmed six cases of cholera outbreak in the state. He said the cases were recorded in four local government areas of Gwale, Kumbotso, Kano Municipal and Nassarawa.
(The Whistler)
