115 Dead in Katsina From Yellow Fever Outbreak

A Yellow Fever outbreak in Matazu Local Government Area of Katsina State has allegedly led to the death of 115 people.

While members of the affected communities said they’ve lost 115 people, the local government authorities claimed only 18 people died in three weeks of the disease outbreak. A former councilor of the Kogari ward who spoke to Daily Trust said Kogari was first hit by the disease before spreading to the Unguwar-Sarka community.

He said, ‘‘in the past three weeks, we have recorded over 115 deaths’’.

The Executive Secretary of the state Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr Shamsu Ahmad disclosed that 6,729,000 people were recently immunized against Yellow fever across the state.

“It is a suspected case of Yellow fever, and based on our line list and documentation, 45 people fell ill, and 18 deaths were recorded. As at today (Monday), there are 45 cases on the ground. Of those ill, 11 blood samples were taken, five results turned out negative of Yellow fever and we are awaiting the result of six others. We normally take the samples to Abuja and Lagos for confirmation because we don’t have the facility to do it here”.