This was announced in a statement on Thursday released by the agency, adding that the new cases were recorded in 33 LGAs across eight states — Kano, Lagos, Yobe, Katsina, Cross River, Kaduna, Osun and the federal capital territory (FCT).
The Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has confirmed a new record of 789 cases of diphtheria in Nigeria as of June 30.
This was announced in a statement on Thursday released by the agency, adding that the new cases were recorded in 33 LGAs across eight states — Kano, Lagos, Yobe, Katsina, Cross River, Kaduna, Osun and the federal capital territory (FCT).
Diphtheria is a bacterial infection produced by the corynebacterium species that affects an individual's nose, throat, and, in some cases, skin.
Diphtheria symptoms include fever, runny nose, sore throat, cough, red eyes, neck swelling, and difficulty breathing.
The Nigerian childhood vaccination schedule advises three doses of pentavalent vaccine (diphtheria toxoid-containing vaccine) for children in the sixth, tenth, and fourteenth weeks of life to prevent infection.
According to NCDC, most of the cases were recorded in Kano while 71.7 percent of the confirmed cases occurred among children aged two to 14 years.
So far, a total of 80 deaths have been recorded among all confirmed cases.
Days ago, the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) had also confirmed the outbreak of the deadly diphtheria in the federal territory, Abuja, after it claimed the life of a four-year-old boy out of eight reported case.
The Director, FCT Public Health Department, Sadiq Abdulrahman, who announced this on Monday at a press briefing, had said information available to it confirmed that the disease was imported from neighbouring Niger State.