NCDC records 55 new deaths as suspected cholera cases exceed 81,000

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has confirmed 1,825 new suspected cases of cholera, bringing the country’s current total to 81,413.

The development was disclosed in NCDC’s latest epidemiological report, published on Friday.

According to the agency, 55 new deaths were reported between September 13 and September 19, while Bauchi, Kano and Jigawa currently account for 51 percent of the total number of infections recorded across the country since January 2021.

With suspected cases now reported in 28 states and the federal capital territory (FCT), a total of 2,791 deaths have also been recorded.

The NCDC also said Rivers, which is the latest addition to the list, had a backlog of suspected cases which were reflected in the current report.

“Twenty-eight states and FCT have reported suspected cholera cases in 2021. These are Abia, Adamawa, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Benue, Borno, Cross River, Delta, Ekiti, Enugu, FCT, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Osun, Plateau, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe, Rivers and Zamfara,” the report reads.

“In the reporting week, 15 states reported 1,825 suspected cases – Zamfara (524), Bauchi (347), Yobe (302), Katsina (282), Borno (139), Adamawa (76), Kano (46), Jigawa (22), Kebbi (22), Gombe (22), Sokoto (13), Kaduna (12), Abia (12), Kwara (5) and Taraba (1).

“There was a 38% decrease in the number of new suspected cases in week 37 (1,825) compared with week 36 (2,955). Zamfara (524), Bauchi (347), Yobe (302), Katsina (282) and Borno (139) account for 87.3% of 1,825 suspected cases reported in week 37.

“During the reporting week, 36 Cholera Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDT) were conducted. RDT conducted were from Adamawa (18), Kaduna (11), Zamfara (2), Yobe (2), Abia (2) and Kwara (1). Of this, a total of 21 (58%) were positive by RDT.

“A total of 10 culture tests were conducted in Katsina (6), Adamawa (3) and Kaduna (1). Of this, two (20%) were positive. Of the cases reported, there were 55 deaths from Zamfara (19), Adamawa (7), Yobe (7), Jigawa (6), Katsina (5), Borno (5), Kebbi (2), Bauchi (2), and Kwara (2) states with a weekly case fatality ratio (CFR) of 3.0%.

“No new state reported cases in week 37 and Rivers was added to reflect the backlog in early reporting.”