Cerebrospinal Meningitis: Yobe Records 85 Deaths, 2510 Recover In 4 Months

Yobe State government said 85 persons have died from Cerebrospinal Meningitis in the state while 2,510 have recovered from the disease between January 2023 to April 2024.

The Commissioner for Health in the State, Dr Lawan Gana while addressing journalists in Damaturu also refuted the purported social media report on the alleged deaths of 200 persons in Potiskum and Nangere local government areas of the state.

“On the Cerebrospinal Meningitis, so far 85 persons have died while 2,510 recovered from the disease.  I am assuring you that, the government was able to manage the cases, but we want the federal government to donate more vaccinations to tackle disease outbreaks in the state” he said.

He explained that a thorough investigation was carried out with epidemiologists and the State Primary Healthcare centres, to authenticate the purported report but it was found to be false.

“The Ministry of Health before we come out to disputes, we normally do our diligence to ensure we give out the facts.  Having received that report, we mandated the State Epidemiologists, supervised by the Director of Public Health they first to contact the local government health teams of the said local government areas, but found out that there was no issue of such nature” he said.

According to Lawan, the hot weather is contributing to outbreaks of diseases, asking the general public to ensure they sleep in ventilated areas as well as report any suspicious to the health facilities on time.