Fresh meningitis outbreak kills nine, infects 72 in 10 states

• NCDC confirms six new Monkey pox cases in Rivers, others
• 13 new Yellow fever infections hit Edo, FCT, Ekiti, says WHO report

A fresh outbreak of Cerebro Spinal Meningitis (CSM) has killed nine and infected 72 persons in Katsina, Zamfara, Jigawa, Yobe, Bauchi, Ebonyi, Sokoto, Kano, Bayelsa and Ondo states.

A breakdown of the figures released yesterday by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) in Abuja showed that Katsina recorded most of the cases and deaths followed by Zamfara, Jigawa, Ebonyi and Bauchi. No deaths were, however, recorded in Sokoto, Kano, Yobe, Bayelsa and Ondo.

Also, the NCDC) reported 15 new suspected monkey pox cases of which six confirmed cases were recorded in Rivers (one), Bayelsa (two), Delta (one), Cross Rivers (one) and Edo (one).

Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation (WHO)’s regional reference laboratory and Institute Pasteur (IP) in Dakar, Senegal has confirmed 13 new positive cases of Yellow fever in Edo (nine), FCT Abuja (three) and Ekiti (one).Latest figures on CSM outbreak from the NCDC showed as at epidemic (epi-week) 50, eight new suspected cases were reported from Katsina State.

From October 1, 2018 to December 18, 2018, a total of 72 suspected cases have been reported from 10 states. Four samples were positive for bacterial meningitis. Neisseria meningitides serogroup C (NmC) accounted for 100 per cent or four of the positive cases. So far, nine deaths with Case Fatality Ration (CFR) of 12.5 per cent have been recorded among all suspected cases.“As the dry season begins, we expect increase in the number of CSM cases in Nigeria. This is the first SitRep for the 2018/2019 season.

“The National Technical Working Group for Cerebrospinal Meningitis has been preparing ahead of the 2018/2019 meningitis season. States in the meningitis belt were formally placed on alert on the 8th of November 2018,” the NCDC stated.On Yellow fever outbreak, the NCDC noted that from the onset of the outbreak in September 2017 to date, 3,902 suspected cases have been reported from all 36 States and the FCT in Nigeria.

According to the Centre, of the 3295 samples collected and tested, 185 were presumptive positive in-country and were sent for confirmation to IP in Dakar and so far, 78 positive cases from Kwara, Kogi, Kano, Zamfara, Kebbi, Nasarawa, Niger, Katsina, Edo, Ekiti, Rivers, Anambra, FCT and Benue states have been confirmed.

The NCDC also noted that since the outbreak, 13 deaths in IP Dakar confirmed cases and 27 deaths in presumptive positive cases have been recorded and CFR among presumptive positive and IP Dakar confirmed cases were 14.6 per cent and 16.7 per cent respectively.It, however, said Yellow fever preventive mass vaccination campaigns have been conducted in Borno, Kebbi, Niger, Plateau, Sokoto and the FCT between November 22, 2018 and December 2, 2018, bringing the total states covered by preventive mass vaccination campaign to 12.

On Monkey pox, the NCDC said Nigeria continues to report sporadic cases of the disease since the beginning of 2018. It noted that 114 suspected, 45 confirmed, one probable cases and one death have been reported in 2018 and the 45 cases confirmed were recorded in Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta, Oyo, Cross River, Edo, Enugu, Imo, Lagos, Plateau, Abia, Anambra and Nasarawa states.