The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) has reported a cumulative total of 4,915 suspected cerebrospinal meningitis cases across 24 states during the 2023 and 2024 meningitis seasons.
Dr. Jide Idris, the NCDC’s Director General, disclosed this at a media briefing in Abuja on Wednesday.
According to him, the disease has claimed 361 lives, with a case fatality rate of 7.3%.
He said: “A total of 859 samples were collected from the reported suspected cases since the beginning of the outbreak, and 378 were confirmed (44 percent positivity rate).
“Neisseria meningitides serogroup C account for 90 percent, Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) six percent, Spn three percent, NmX, and NmW one percent each.
“Age groups five to 15 years were reported the most affected. 60 percent of the total suspected cases are male.
“The five most affected states are Yobe (3014), Bauchi (517), Jigawa (389), Katsina (352), and Gombe (316), which account for 93 percent of all cases reported.
“There has been an increase in several cases (4915) by 157 percent in the 2023/2024 season compared with (1914) cases in the 2022/2023 season.”
He added that there is a high increase in the trend of cases in 2024 compared to the last four years (2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023, respectively).
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