The World Health Organization announced Friday that a new outbreak of yellow fever in Nigeria has so far caused the death of 172 people.
The organization said that this disease poses a new challenge to the health system in the largest country in Africa in terms of population, with the outbreak of Covid-19 and many other diseases, in addition to a humanitarian crisis in the northeast of the country.
Since 2017, Nigeria has faced successive waves of yellow fever, the most recent of which was detected in November, according to WHO spokesperson Tarik Yasarevic.
"As of November 24, the outbreak of the fever was reported in five states in Nigeria: Delta, Enugu, Bauchi, Benue and Ebonyi," said Yasarevic.
"530 suspected injuries were recorded, 48 of them were confirmed through laboratory tests," he said, adding that "among these 530 injuries, a total of 172 deaths were recorded."
Yasarevic indicated that examinations are continuing through national laboratories.
He explained that the Nigerian authorities are focusing their attention on the Covid-19 pandemic, which limits the human resources required to investigate and deal with the spread of yellow fever.
Capacity has been boosted in some hospitals to help treat patients who have symptoms of yellow fever and its complications.
Currently, 16 out of 36 Nigerian states, in addition to the federal capital, have completed vaccination campaigns against yellow fever.
The World Health Organization said that six more states are expected to begin vaccination in the first quarter of 2021, and another six by the end of next year, bringing the total to 28.
The proportion of people immunized against the disease is low in many parts of Africa, although the vaccine is almost 100 percent effective and relatively cheap.
There is no specific treatment available for yellow fever, which is generally transmitted by mosquitoes.
Nigeria, like other African countries, has so far managed to overcome the brunt of the Corona virus, but the authorities are wary of an outbreak of a new wave.
Nigeria has so far recorded more than 68,300 COVID-19 cases and 1,179 deaths.
