Twelve diphtheria cases confirmed at Kano boarding school
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Daily Trust
First Lady’s College in Mariri, a boarding school with more than 2,000 pupils in northern Nigeria’s Kano State, is experiencing a diphtheria outbreak with 12 confirmed cases among 313 suspected cases tested, according to the Kano State Centre for Disease Control. One severely affected pupil is hospitalised at Kano’s Infectious Diseases Hospital, while the others are being treated on site.
The Kano State Centre for Disease Control (KNCDC) confirmed 12 cases of diphtheria after screening 313 suspected cases at First Lady’s College in Mariri, a boarding school with more than 2,000 pupils. KNCDC Director-General Professor Muhammad Adamu Abbas told Daily Trust that teams were deployed after the outbreak was reported.
A pupil with severe symptoms was admitted to Kano’s Infectious Diseases Hospital, while the other affected pupils are being treated at the school. The teams also actively searched for other cases, administered medication to people who had been in contact with suspected cases and organised awareness sessions about the disease, according to Muhammad Adamu Abbas.
The KNCDC director-general called for more vaccines to conduct a mass vaccination campaign at the boarding school. He said the agency continued to receive reports through its network of surveillance officers present in all 44 local government areas of Kano State.
The outbreak comes as Kano is experiencing a resurgence of diphtheria. Last month, Daily Trust reported the deaths of five children from the same family in the Danbare neighbourhood, according to health authorities cited by the newspaper.
