Nigeria: Zamfara Records Diphtheria 44 Deaths, Extends School Resumption

The Zamfara State Ministry of Health has recorded 44 deaths from an outbreak of diphtheria in parts of the state.

The State Director of Public Health in the ministry, Dr Yusuf Haske, disclosed this in a telephone interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Gusau on Monday.

Haske said the ministry had so far recorded 367 clinically suspected cases, with more than 320 patients successfully treated and discharged.

He explained that laboratory tests conducted on samples collected from suspected patients confirmed the presence of the diphtheria-causing organism.

According to him, the samples were sent to the National Reference Laboratory in Abuja, where the diagnosis was further confirmed.

He said following the confirmation, the Ministry of Health, on the directive of Governor Dauda Lawal, declared the outbreak and activated the Incident Management System to coordinate the response.