Yellow Fever Spreads To 7 States, 1,640 Cases Recorded

Nigeria has recorded over 1,640 suspected cases of Yellow fever
with 41 confirmed cases according to the World Health Organization
(WHO) Regional Reference Laboratory in Dakar, Senegal, National
Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA) has said.

Meanwhile, about seven states in the country have reported the
outbreak of Yellow fever and the states include: FCT, Kogi,
Anambra, Nasarawa, Zamfara, Edo and Benue.

Executive Director of NPHCDA, Dr. Faisal Shuaib, who stated this
yesterday in Abuja said that government has enough vaccines to
contain the outbreak of yellow fever as about 6million doses were
in its stockpiles while additional doses have been added.

He said, “There is a global stockpile of vaccine meant for such
outbreaks. The vaccines are supposed to be for prevention, Nigeria
is one the high risk countries in Africa for yellow fever. So there
is stockpile of vaccine and as at the last time, it was about 6m
doses with additional vaccine doses that are added to that”.

Shuaib, who expressed government’s readiness in ensuring local
production of vaccines, disclosed that the federal government is
committed to establishing a reference laboratory in the country
within the next six months to reduce the logistics challenges with
sample transportation and laboratory turnaround time and ultimately
reduce the response time and consequently the morbidity and
mortality rates.

The ED who noted that Nigeria is one of the 27 African countries
that are high risk for yellow fever, said that all the agencies
involved are working swiftly to contain the spread and prevent
further outbreaks.

He observed that the country has been experiencing sporadic
outbreaks of Yellow Fever since September 12, 2017, when the first
case was confirmed in a 7- year old child from Ifelodun LGA, Kwara
State. Currently, there are over 1,640 suspected cases line-listed
with 41 confirmed from the WHO Regional Reference Laboratory in
Dakar Senegal.

According to him, there is an ongoing third (3rd) Preventive
Mass Vaccination Campaign with a target age group of 9 months – 44
years in Sokoto, Federal Capital Territory, Plateau and some LGAs
not covered in the last vaccination campaign in Niger and Kebbi.
The vaccination began on the 22nd November 2018 and is expected to
last till the 1st of December, 2018’’.

He said the recent report from Edo state about a fever of
unknown origin is also being investigated, adding that tests done
at laboratories in Nigeria have shown that 9 of the samples tested
positive for Yellow Fever and as such, samples have been forwarded
to Dakar, Senegal for confirmation in order to quickly respond to
the outbreak.

He added that NPHCDA, The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control
(NCDC), Edo State Epidemiology team, World Health Organisation and
other international development partners are working together to
rapidly conduct a comprehensive investigation and respond
appropriately to the situation on ground.

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