At least six people, mainly children, have died with 12 others hospitalised following the outbreak of diphtheria disease at Kafanchan in Jema’a Local Government Area (LGA) of Kaduna State.
This was disclosed in a statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mohammed Shehu, who said that the diphtheria disease occurred in three wards of the LGA, including Takau, Kafanchan A and Kafanchan B wards.
Shehu explained that the disease broke out two weeks ago after some residents started exhibiting symptoms such as difficulty breathing, high fever, cough, general body weakness, sore throat, and swelling of the neck.
According to the statement, the index case was a four-year-old boy whose illness started on July 4, but died after 48 hours while five out of 17 new cases later died within the three wards of Jema’a LGA.
Governor Uba Sani has therefore directed the State Ministry of Health to send an emergency team to investigate the cases and ensure the movement of affected cases to adequately equip hospitals for proper management, active contact tracing and intensive community sensitisation in all affected communities and surrounding areas.
