Meningitis Kills 52 In 21 States In Nigeria

Fifty-two persons have died from Cerebrospinal Meningitis (CSM) in 21 states, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed.

The NCDC said as of 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.