Meningitis kills 52 in 21 states in Nigeria

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has disclosed that 52 persons have been killed in 21 states by Cerebrospinal Meningitis (CSM). 

 The NCDC said as at March 5, a total of 628 suspected cases including 52 deaths (CFR 8.3%) were reported from 21 states in 2022/2023 CSM seasons. 

 20 states that reported suspected CSM cases in 2022/2023 were: Abia, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Benue, Borno, Ebonyi, Gombe, Imo, Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Kogi, Nasarawa, Niger, Oyo, Plateau, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe and Zamfara. 

 The report added that “91% of all cumulative cases were from four (4) states – Jigawa (509 cases), Bauchi (23 cases), Zamfara (22 cases) and Oyo (14 cases).” According to the report, 62% of the cases are male patients while 38% are females. 

It was also revealed that “ten LGAs across five states, Jigawa (7), Bauchi (1), Oyo (1), Plateau (1) and Zamfara (1), reported more than 5 cases each this CSM seasons 2022/2023.” 

 The number of new suspected cases in epidemiological week nine decreased by 84% compared with epidemiological week nine. 

 The national multi-sectoral Cerebrospinal Meningitis Technical Working Group (TWG ) continued to monitor response across states.