No fewer than 7,842 suspected cases of measles have been reported in Nigeria from January to 31 March.
The cases were reported from 34 states and the FCT, and across 631 local government areas in the country
Also, the Cerebrospinal Meningitis situation report showed that 4,266 suspected cases and 339 deaths have been reported across 23 states and the Federal Capital Territory since the beginning of the 2023/2024 season.
The 2023/2024 season is from week 40 of 2023 to week 18 of 2024.
The reports were obtained from the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC).
The report highlighted that from January to March 2024, Borno (2,897), Yobe (345), Bauchi (319), Katsina (276), Osun (276), Lagos (269), and Ogun (255) accounted for 60.38 per cent of the 7,679 suspected Measles cases reported.
“Of the suspected cases reported, 4,020 (52.35 per cent) were confirmed (990 lab-confirmed, 1,029 epi-linked and 2,001 clinically compatible), 654 (8.51 per cent) were discarded and 3,005 (39.13 per cent) were pending classification
“The age group nine – 59 months accounted for 2,876 (71.54 per cent) of all confirmed cases.
“A total of 39 deaths (CFR = 0.97 per cent) were recorded among confirmed cases. Up to 3,135 (77.98 per cent) of the 4,020 confirmed cases did not receive any dose of measles vaccine (zero doses)”, the report read in part.
The NCDC said it was following up with states experiencing outbreaks for response activities.
On Meningitis, the centre said 761 samples were collected among the suspected cases, with 353 laboratory-confirmed.
It said of all the cases reported, 94 per cent of the suspected and confirmed cases were from five states – Yobe (2,566 cases and 212 confirmed), Bauchi (517 cases and 21 confirmed), Jigawa (389 cases and 68 confirmed), Gombe (315 cases and 25 confirmed), and Katsina (225 cases and 12 confirmed).
On 12 April, Nigeria became the first country in the world to roll out a new vaccine called Men5CV, recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO), which protects people against five strains of the meningococcus bacteria.
The vaccine and emergency vaccination activities are funded by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, which funds the global meningitis vaccine stockpile and supports lower-income countries with routine vaccination against meningitis.
Nigeria is one of the 26 meningitis hyper-endemic countries of Africa, situated in the area known as the African Meningitis Belt.
Last year, there was a 50 per cent jump in annual meningitis cases reported across Africa, according to WHO.
