Nigeria Records 14 Deaths From Yellow Fever In Seven Months

At least 14 people have died of yellow fever disease in the country between January and July 2022, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.

In its latest report on the disease, the health agency stated that the fatalities were recorded in 10 states, including Zamfara which reported three deaths.

While the duo of Taraba and Katsina recorded two fatalities each, other states that reported a death each, were Abia, Bayelsa, Benue, Imo, Kaduna, Kebbi, and Yobe.

Yellow fever, according to the World Health Organisation, is an acute viral haemorrhagic disease transmitted by infected mosquitoes, with accompanying symptoms such as fever, headache, jaundice, muscle pain, nausea, vomiting, and fatigue.

Once contracted, the virus incubates in the body for a few days but less than a week, although many patients do not experience symptoms.

While these symptoms disappear after three to four days in some patients, very few enter a second and more toxic phase within 24 hours of recovering from the initial symptoms.

At this point, it is common that high fever returns while several systems of the body are affected, especially the liver and the kidneys.

The NCDC, in its situation report, said a total of 1,179 suspected cases have been reported from 416 Local Government Areas (LGAs) across all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) from January 1 to July 31.

“The cases were reported from the following states: Abia (36), Adamawa (18), Akwa Ibom (nine), Anambra (84), Bauchi (38), Bayelsa (13), Benue (24), Borno (100), Cross River (26), Delta (eight), Ebonyi (27), Edo (14), Ekiti (29), Enugu (67), FCT (five), Gombe (14), Imo (43), Jigawa (81), Kaduna (eight), Kano (four), Katsina (81), Kebbi (21), Kogi (15), Kwara (21), Lagos (four), Nasarawa (24), Niger (25), Ogun (25), Ondo (62), Osun (19), Oyo (73), Plateau (45), Rivers (23), Sokoto (16), Taraba (33), Yobe (31), and Zamfara (13),” the report said.

It added “A total of eight presumptive positive and six inconclusive results were recorded from the Nigeria Laboratory Network. These presumptive positives were from UBTH Benin (two), MDH Abuja (one), CPHL Lagos (three), YDMH (two).”

According to the agency, the male-to-female ratio for suspected cases is 1:1.7 with males 637 (54%) and females 542 (46%).

Seventy-four per cent of the cases were predominantly aged 30 years and below while the NCDC said it was coordinating response activities through the National Multi-agency Yellow Fever Technical Working Group (YF TWG).