Taraba State said it has stepped up surveillance and response measures across the Bali Local Council Area, where the state recorded its first confirmed case of diphtheria after the patient died of the bacterial infection.

Also, in Enugu State, the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH) has confirmed the death of a patient from clinically diagnosed diphtheria.

An internal memo signed by Dr Charles Nonyelu of the UNTH Chief Medical Advisory Committee to the hospital’s heads of departments and units disclosed that the patient was managed at the Children’s Emergency Room (CHER) before the death, two days after admission.

Nonyelu noted that a subsequent post-mortem review had raised the possibility that the clinical presentation was due to pharyngotonsillitis with massive exudate rather than diphtheria.

However, he added that, in the interest of public safety and as a precautionary measure, the hospital has commenced contact tracing to identify and monitor anyone who may have had close contact with the patient, while the CHER had also undergone proper decontamination.

Confirming the Taraba case in a telephone interview with The Guardian, the state epidemiologist, Dr Udi Aketemo, said the patient died before comprehensive clinical management was put in place.

Aketemo explained that the state initially faced challenges in diagnosing suspected diphtheria cases due to the lack of appropriate facilities to promptly confirm the infection.

However, he said that testing kits and specialised laboratory equipment have now been deployed to the Federal Medical Centre, Jalingo, following which 14 suspected cases were subsequently identified and subjected to laboratory testing, but all samples returned negative.