Cholera, Lassa fever killed 993 Nigerians in 2018 –Report
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control has said that at least 992 people died of cholera, Lassa fever, yellow fever and monkeypox in 2018. The centre made the data available on its website and stated that Cholera caused 830 deaths, Lassa fever caused 149 deaths, yellow fever killed 13 persons, while there was one confirmed death caused by monkeypox.
On cholera, the NCDC said, “As at October 29, 2018, a total of 42,466 suspected cases including 830 deaths have been reported from 20 States. The affected states were, Adamawa, Anambra, Bauchi, Borno, Ebonyi, FCT, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger, Plateau, Yobe, Sokoto, and Zamfara.
“Since the beginning of 2018, 26.3 per cent of those confirmed to have contracted cholera were aged five to 14, while 50.6 per cent female and 49.4 per cent male were affected.”
On Lassa fever, the centre said there were 3,276 suspected cases reported, out of which 588 were confirmed positive, 17 probable and 2672 negative, from January 1 to December 9, 2018.
“A total of 149 deaths were recorded in confirmed cases and 17 in probable cases. 23 states recorded at least one confirmed case across 93 Local Government Areas, they are Edo, Ondo, Bauchi, Nasarawa, Ebonyi, Anambra, Benue, Kogi, Imo, Plateau, Lagos, Taraba, Delta, Osun, Rivers, FCT, Gombe, Ekiti, Kaduna, Abia, Adamawa, Enugu and Kano.
“Forty-four health care workers were affected since the onset of the outbreak in seven states; Ebonyi 16, Edo-15, Ondo -8, Kogi -2, Nasarawa -1, Taraba -1 and Abia -1. Meanwhile, of the 82 per cent of all confirmed cases, 45 per cent were from Edo State, 25 per cent from Ondo State and 12 per cent from Ebonyi State.”
From the onset of the Yellow fever outbreak in September 2017 to December 2018, the NCDC stated that 3,902 suspected cases were reported from the 36 states and the FCT, with 78 cases of those cases being positive.
“Of the 3,295 samples that were collected and tested, 185 were presumptive positive and 78 cases have been reported to be positive from 14 the states. The states affected by yellow fever in 2018 were, Kwara, Kogi, Kano, Zamfara, Kebbi, Nasarawa, Niger, Katsina, Edo, Ekiti, Rivers, Anambra and Benue states, as well as the FCT. Total deaths from suspected cases were 33 while deaths from presumptive positive cases were 27 and total deaths from confirmed cases were 13.
On monkeypox, the centre recorded 104 cases that were reported from 19 States in 2018; Rivers, Akwa-Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Ebonyi, Edo, Enugu, Imo, Kebbi, Lagos, Nasarawa, Oyo, Abia, Anambra, Bauchi, Plateau, Adamawa, and the FCT. Of the 104 cases reported, there were 38 confirmed cases, one probable case, and one death.
