The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) has announced 14 deaths in 10 states from suspected cases of yellow fever between January and July.

The affected states included Abia (one), Bayelsa (one), Benue (one), Imo (one), Kaduna (one), Katsina (two), Kebbi (one), Taraba (two), Yobe (one) and Zamfara (three).

The NCDC stated this via its official website on Sunday.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), yellow fever is an acute viral haemorrhagic disease transmitted by infected mosquitoes.

The Nigerian Public Health Institute said 1,179 suspected cases of yellow fever were reported in 416 local government areas from January 1 to July 31.

It said one case each was confirmed in five states, namely Sokoto (Dange-Shuni LGA), Osun (Atakunmosa East LGA), Ondo (Akure South LGA), Anambra (Idemili South LGA) and Imo (Nwangele LGA).

The NCDC stated that the male-to-female ratio for suspected cases was 1:1.7, with males 637 (54 per cent) and females 542 (46 per cent), and 74 per cent of the cases were aged 30 years and below.

“One hundred and twenty-six (10.7 per cent) of 1,179 suspected cases had at least one dose of the yellow fever vaccine,” it said.

Yellow fever is preventable with a highly effective, safe and affordable vaccine. A single dose of yellow fever vaccine is sufficient to grant sustained immunity and life-long protection against yellow fever disease. A booster dose of the vaccine is not needed.

“Further yellow fever vaccination campaigns are planned in Nigeria in the states of Ogun and Gombe in June 2022,” NCDC.

It further explained that the campaigns targeted 8.8 million people and that additional PMVCs would be implemented in the latter part of 2022 in Kano, Adamawa, Bayelsa, Borno and Enugu. 

(NAN)