Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) reported that 1,319 diphtheria deaths have been reported since epidemiological week 19, 2022, and through week 10, 2025, with widespread vaccination gaps in coverage. Sunday saw NCDC’s epidemiological report, which was published on its official website, indicating that 42,642 suspect cases were reported from 37 states and 350 local government areas (LGAs). Of these, 25,812 (60.5%) were classified and 5,470 are unclassified.
The report indicated that the most hit states were Kano, Yobe, Katsina, Bauchi, Borno, Kaduna, and Jigawa with 96.3 per cent of all suspected cases. It also indicated that one to 14-year-old children were the most hit, representing 62.9 per cent (16,234 cases) of the total number of confirmed cases.
Alarming enough, 4,981 (19.3%) of the confirmed cases were fully immunized with a diphtheria toxoid-containing vaccine. During epidemiological week 10 of 2025, 23 cases suspected from two states were reported: Lagos (20) and Katsina (3). None was confirmed, and there were no deaths reported for the week. Response activities by NCDC have included surveillance and coordination, laboratory confirmation, case management, vaccination Drive and Risk Communication.
Nonetheless, the center indicated that there are still a number of challenges, such as a low test positivity rate, since all the positive cases in 2024 were based on clinical symptoms alone and not laboratory diagnosis and restricted testing capacities, with substandard reagents and consumables for PCR testing on clinical specimens.
