World Health Organisation (WHO) has said special attention should be paid to vaccination of healthcare workers exposed to diphtheria to curb its spread.
According to the United Nations (UN) health agency, healthcare workers may be at greater risk of contracting diphtheria than the general population.
Unveiling diphtheria preventive measures, yesterday, in Maiduguri, Borno State, North East Emergency Manager of WHO, Beatrice Muraguri, disclosed: “Diphtheria spreads easily among people by direct contact or through the air via respiratory droplets from coughing or sneezing.” She added that the disease could also be spread by contaminated clothing and other objects.
“In severe cases of diphtheria, the bacterium produces a toxin (poison) in patients that causes a thick grey or white patch at the back of the throat,” Muraguri noted.
She explained that diphtheria is an infection caused by the bacterium (Corynebacterium diphtheria), with symptoms of severe fever and sore throat, noting: “The signs and symptoms usually start two or three days after exposure, and range from mild to severe infection.”
The emergency manager pointed out that the patch could block the airways, making breathing and swallowing difficult, as well as creating a barking cough.
“The neck may swell in part due to enlarged lymph nodes of diphtheria patients, mostly children below the age of five,” she added.
On treatment of diphtheria, she said: “Diphtheria infection is treated with the administration of a diphtheria antitoxin administered intravenously or through an intramuscular injection. Antibiotics are also given to eliminate the bacteria and toxin production, to prevent transmission.”
All children worldwide, including the North East, she advised, should be immunised against diphtheria. “A three-dose primary series during infancy is the foundation for building life-long immunity to diphtheria.”
DISSATISFIED with the persistent cases of zero-dose children and the attendant morbidity, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has raised the alarm over the poor state of Primary Healthcare Centres in Kano, Katsina and Jigawa states.
This is as available data indicated that 300,000 zero-dose children are in Kano alone. Zero-dose children are those who never had any jab since birth.
Immunisation, according to experts, is the single, cost-effective and high-impact intervention dose, which protects children against illness and death caused by vaccine-preventable diseases.
During a media dialogue on ‘Routine Immunisation and the Zero-Dose Campaign’ in Kano, UNICEF Field Office Chief, Kano, Mr. Rahama Farah, lamented that despite proven safety, efficacy and availability of vaccines, immunisation uptake, especially in Kano, Katsina and Jigawa states, had not always been optimal.
Although the UNICEF chief contented that National Immunisation Coverage Survey Results over the years had shown that Nigeria made progress in immunisation coverage, he insisted that wide gaps still exist of zero-dose children. He cited 600,000 zero-dose children in Kano, Katsina and Jigawa, with 50 per cent in Kano alone.
Reacting, Kano State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Abubakar Yusuf, regretted the immunisation situation in the state, blaming it on the immediate past administration’s poor management of the health sector.
Yusuf disclosed that he inherited almost an epidemic state with devastating public health facility, but pledged the commitment of the present administration to reverse the situation, especially as it concerns zero-dose children.
UNICEF Communication Specialist, Kano Field Office, Samuel Kaalu, explained that the dialogue with journalists drawn from Kano, Katsina and Jigawa was organised to raise awareness on zero-dose immunisation in the focal states.
