34 deaths have been recorded due to a diphtheria outbreak in Nigeria according to the Centre for Disease Control.
Ifedayo Adetifa, NCDC director-general, disclosed this during an interview at the weekend.
“At the time of the report, Kano had recorded about 25 deaths but actually in total, at this week-ending, there have been about 34 deaths in total now,” he said.
“While this is a highly preventable and a very treatable condition, without the appropriate treatment including antibiotics and diphtheria antitoxin for severely-ill cases, fatality can be high. Otherwise, with early detection and prompt institution of the right treatment, the outcomes are typically very good,” he added.
The DG also said diphtheria is a vaccine-preventable disease that was common decades ago but was forgotten due to the effectiveness of childhood vaccination programmes.
