At least three persons have died following an outbreak of yellow fever
in Bauchi State.
Rilwanu Mohammed, the Executive Chairman of the State Primary
Healthcare Development Agency, confirmed this during an interview with
ChannelsTV on Saturday.
He noted that there were 23 other suspected cases while a few persons
were receiving treatment at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University
Teaching Hospital, Bauchi.
Mohammed said, “In Bauchi State, we have been trying to follow up with
the case of yellow fever which started two weeks ago and we have only
three confirmed deaths.
“And then, we have 23 cases of yellow fever and even today (Saturday),
seven samples were taken to the laboratory in Abuja.”
The executive chairman, who spoke during a hospital visit to the
affected patients, explained that most of them were seen unconscious.
According to him, one of the patients is a ranger at the Yankari Games
Reserve, as the disease outbreak cuts across three local government
areas – Bauchi, Tafawa Balewa, and Alkaleri.
Mohammed said all confirmed cases of the disease were from Alkaleri,
where the Yankari Games Reserve is located.
He, however, stated that the state government had begun to put
measures in place to contain the spread of the disease but lacked
enough vaccines for the people.
Some of the steps taken so far, according to him, include the
distribution of mosquito nets, environmental fumigation, and training
of staff on control measures.
“We are trying to see what we can do. We’ve made arrangements on how
to contain the virus and one of the arrangements is that we started
reactive vaccination over three or four days ago around the
communities,” said the executive chairman.
