Nigeria’s healthcare delivery system has further been put under strain with the outbreak of yellow fever in some parts of the country claiming 76 lives against the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic which has yet to abate.
Yellow fever has been confirmed in three states, Delta, Enugu, and Bauchi between 1st and 11TH November, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and a multi-level agency yellow fever technical working group coordinated by NCDC has been activated to coordinate the response to the outbreak.
In a statement by the director-general of the commission, Chikwe Ihekweazu made available to the media, it added that 222 suspected cases have been reported in the affected states by 11th November explaining that most of the cases are males with age ranging from 1-55 years and presented with fever, headache, fatigue, jaundice, abdominal pains, vomiting with or without blood. Other symptoms include blood in stools/urine, convulsion, and unconsciousness
The statement read in part, ”The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) is currently responding to yellow fever outbreaks in three states – Delta, Enugu, and Bauchi.
“On 1st, 2nd and 8th of November, clusters of cases and deaths were reported to NCDC by the State Epidemiologists of Delta, Enugu and Bauchi States respectively
“Seventy-four suspected cases with 35 deaths were reported from Delta State; 70 suspected cases with 33 deaths from Enugu State and 78 suspected cases with 8 deaths from Bauchi state.
Read also: We are working with Enugu, Delta States over suspected yellow fever outbreak, says NCDC
“From the preliminary investigations, three samples from Delta (6th November), one sample from Enugu(6th November), and eight samples from Bauchi (8th November) were confirmed as yellow fever with PCR at the NCDC National Reference Laboratory, Gaduwa.
“Between the 1stand 11thof November 2020, a total of 222 suspected cases, 19 confirmed cases and 76 deaths have been reported from these three states.
“Most of the cases are males, with age ranging from 1-55 years and presented with fever, headache, fatigue, jaundice, abdominal pain, vomiting with or without blood, epistaxis, blood in stools/urine, convulsion and unconsciousness
“On 7thof November, the National Yellow fever Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) was activated to coordinate response activities across all affected states▪
“The State Epidemiology Team in the affected states is leading the response with support from NCDC, National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), and WHO. National RRTs from NCDC have been deployed to support response activities in Delta and Enugu States▪
“As at epi-week 41 this year, Nigeria has reported a total of eight confirmed cases of yellow fever from 7 LGAs across 4 states with no death among confirmed cases”
