The Federal Government of Nigeria is in the final stages of preparations to establish a national diphtheria laboratory aimed at conducting tests on suspected diphtheria cases.
This development comes in response to the escalating cases of this deadly disease in the country.
According to official reports, diphtheria has now spread to 18 states across Nigeria, with a total of 13,204 suspected cases.
Among these, 8,406 cases have been confirmed, spanning 114 local government areas and the Federal Capital Territory.
The Director General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Ifedayo Adetifa, made this announcement during a press briefing held in Abuja on Tuesday.
He emphasized the government’s commitment to establishing a specialized laboratory dedicated to diphtheria testing.
Diphtheria, a potentially fatal disease caused by a toxin produced by the bacterium Corynebacterium diphtheriae, is preventable through vaccination.
It is included in Nigeria’s routine childhood immunization schedule.
Adetifa said, “Last week, the national diphtheria task force deployed the National Rapid Response Teams to Kano, Yobe, Katsina, Bauchi, Borno, Kaduna, Jigawa and Zamfara to support the outbreak response in the states across all pillars.”
He stated that the teams were providing on-site surveillance and reaction assistance in the affected states.
“Through the laboratory network, we continue to conduct preliminary and confirmatory testing at sub-national and national levels. Currently, we have 14 laboratories in the Diphtheria Laboratory Network with capacity to support diphtheria testing. Optimisation of five additional laboratories at the sub national level is currently ongoing.
“There is also continuous provision of technical support to public health laboratory scientists across states. We are currently finalising the development of the National Diphtheria Laboratory,” he added.
Meanwhile, the NPHCDA’s Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer, Dr Faisal Shuaib, stated that the government has started swift and comprehensive immunisation efforts in the afflicted regions in recent months.
“Kano, as the epicentre of this outbreak, has been at the forefront of our vaccination efforts. Working with the state governments, we implemented round one and two of the vaccination campaign in five high-burden LGAs in February and April 2023.
“Beyond Kano, we expanded our response to include Kaduna, Katsina, Bauchi, and Yobe in our Phase One response,” he said.
