Kano Diphtheria Deaths: Govt Investigates as Families Seek Help
The Kano State Government has started investigating the deaths of children reported to be associated with a suspected diphtheria outbreak in Rano Local Government Area, after residents alleged that scores of children have been killed by the disease.
The investigation follows grieving families in Rurum and neighbouring communities who reported that children who first presented with fever and throat pain later had serious complications and died.
A member representing Rano Constituency in the Kano State House of Assembly, Ibrahim Muhammad, had claimed that at least 50 children had died in the local government.
The Director-General of the Kano State Centre for Disease Control, Prof. Muhammad Abbas, however, said that only 32 cases of diphtheria had been officially recorded in Rano this year.
Abbas said that 25 cases had been reported in August, six in July and one in May, with seven patients admitted to the Infectious Diseases Hospital in Kano.
An active case search conducted on August 19, following the four cases reported on August 13, found 10 more cases and two deaths, he said.
Abbas said that the discrepancy between the official figures and residents’ claims was due to late reporting and the fact that sick children were treated at home or by traditional healers.
The agency has started verbal autopsies, in which relatives of children who have died are interviewed to determine the cause of death.
The development has raised concerns about access to timely health care in impacted communities, where residents reported poverty and poor roads, and lack of health facilities, as obstacles to treatment.
Parents and caregivers have been advised to rush children to health centres if they have any signs or symptoms, noting that early treatment can save lives and avert complications.
The government has also maintained medicines, preventive therapy and reactive vaccination, and investigations and disease-control measures are ongoing.
