One confirmed dead in Bauchi as Yellow Fever spreads to 12 LGAs

The Bauchi State Primary Health Care Development Agency on Thursday confirmed that one person has died following the recent Yellow Fever outbreak in Ningi local government area, as the disease spreads to twelve council areas in the state.

The Executive Secretary, Bauchi State Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr Rilwan Muhammed, who disclosed this in a chat with newsmen in Bauchi said the outbreak started September last year.

“Now, we have some suspected cases from 12 LGAs. We have taken samples from 224 persons and 29 were confirmed positive yellow fever in Bauchi state while one is confirmed dead,” he said.

Muhammed revealed that the major challenge hindering the control of the spread of the disease is delay in getting the laboratory investigation results to confirm the disease.

“We take the samples to Dakar in Senegal for confirmation which takes between three to five weeks. The recent confirmed case in Ningi takes up to five weeks before result arrived and the person died before the comes out,” he narrated.

Muhammed lamented the security challenge in controlling the disease in Bauchi, saying, “One of the challenges in controlling the disease is the serious security problems. In one of the areas in Alkaleri LGA where there are confirmed cases, officials from the ministry that went to vaccinate the locals were kidnapped and it took a lot of time and security intervention before they were released.”

He added: “In the recent outbreak in Ningi and Toro LGAs, especially the Burra and Lamai axis, we had to involve a lot of security personnel before we carry out the investigation of the suspected cases in the areas. One of the problems confronting the control of the disease is security challenge.”