Peter Okoye, PBA Journalism Mentee
Thirty eight persons have died of suspected Cerebrospinal Meningitis (CSM), in Jigawa State.
Permanent Secretary in the state’s Ministry of Health, Dr Salisu Muazu, who disclosed this to newsmen in Dutse, stated that the state recorded a total of 398 suspected cases between October 2022 to date.
Muazu added that the disease was detected in 56 political wards across seven local government areas of the state that border the Niger Republic.
He said the outbreak was initially from the neighbouring Niger Republic and later spread to the border communities in the state, through trans-border activities.
He further listed the affected areas including Babura, Maigatari, Suletankarkar, Birniwa, Gumel, Gwiwa and Yankwashi.
He said: “This is even though last year, we conducted immunisation against this disease across the state.
“But after getting the report of the outbreak, we took the samples for testing in the laboratory, and we discovered it was a strange disease.
“It is not a normal CSM disease that we commonly know which is type A, this one, we discovered that it is bacteria, known as type B.
“And immediately after results were obtained, the state government, through the ministry swung into action, by offering free treatment, control and prevention measures in the affected areas.”
Muazu explained that the ministry had established an isolation centre at Gumel General Hospital, to which affected persons were being referred for proper treatment and observation.
He maintained that the situation had been brought under control, as fewer cases are now being recorded.
“As of now, we record only one to two cases per day. Some days passed without recording a single case, as the last was recorded on Saturday,” he said.
