(AFP): The World Health Organization (WHO) today (Friday) has informed that the recent outbreak of yellow fever in Nigeria has killed 172 people so far.
In a press briefing, WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic told reporters that Nigeria has been battling successive yellow fever outbreaks since 2017, and this latest outbreak was detected in November.
The outbreak poses an extra challenge to the country’s health system as Africa’s most populous nation is currently dealing with COVID-19 pandemic, several concurrent disease outbreaks and a humanitarian crisis in the northeast.
The WHO spokesman said, “As of November 24, the outbreak has been reported in five states in Nigeria: Delta, Enugu, Bauchi, Benue and Ebonyi. A total of 530 suspected cases have been reported, including 48 that have been confirmed by lab testing.”
“A total of 172 deaths have been reported out of those 530 suspected cases. Sample testing was ongoing through national reference laboratories,” the spokesperson added.
The spokesman further said that Nigerian national and state authorities were focused on the COVID-19 pandemic response, limiting the human resources required to conduct investigations for the yellow fever outbreaks.
Capacity has been increased in certain hospitals to help manage patients who develop yellow fever symptoms and complications. Currently, 16 of Nigeria’s 36 states and the federal capital territory have completed vaccination campaigns.
The percentage of people immunised against yellow fever remains low in many parts of Africa, even though the vaccine is nearly 100 percent effective and relatively cheap.
