No fewer than 38 persons have died of Cerebrospinal Meningitis in Jigawa State.

The Permanent Secretary of the Jigawa State Ministry of Health, Dr Salisu Muazu, disclosed this to journalists in Dutse, the state capital on Thursday.

Muazu said the state recorded 398 cases from October 2022 to date, adding that the disease was detected in 56 political wards across seven Local Government Areas of the state that border 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.

The permanent secretary listed the affected areas to include Babura, Maigatari, Suletankarkar, Birniwa, Gumel, Gwiwa, and Yankwashi.

“This is in spite of the fact that last year, we conducted immunisation against this disease across the state.

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“But after getting the report of the outbreak, we took the samples for test in the laboratory, and we discovered it was a strange disease.

“It is not a normal CSM disease that we commonly know which is the 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,” he said

Muazu further stated that the ministry has established an isolation centre at Gumel General Hospital where affected persons are referred to for treatment and observation.

He, however, stressed that the situation has been brought under control, noting that cases are being sporadically recorded.

“As of now, we record only one to two cases per day. In fact, there are some days that passed without recording a single case, as the last was recorded on Saturday,” he added.

The permanent secretary commended the UNICEF, WHO, and NCDC for their support to the ministry in tackling the outbreak.

The Star