Diptheria: Kano govt cautions against unnecessary gatherings

From Mustapha Adamu, Kano

The Kano State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Abubakar Labaran Yusuf has called on people to unnecessary gatherings to protect themselves and others from contracting diphtheria.
Dr Yusuf made the call in a statement signed by the spokesman of the Kano State Ministry of Health, Ibrahim Abdullahi on Tuesday.
This, according to the statement, is to further sensitize people on the importance of sticking to the precautionary measures by all and sundry, with a view to tackle the spread of the diphtheria disease in the state, which is the second most populous in the country.
The Commissioner said diphtheria is an air borne disease, therefore any person suspected to have contracted the disease or have serious symptoms of catarrh such person should henceforth be isolated and referred to health facility.
He stressed that suspected persons shouldn’t mingle with healthy individuals coughing, sneezing and shaking hands, pointing out that these are the major ways of transmitting the disease.
Dr. Labaran advised that if it was a child that is infected, his parents shouldn’t allow him to go to the school and hasten be taken to hospital proper medical attention through conducting relevant diagnostic tests so as to ascertain if there is the presence of diphtheria or not, buttressing that doing that will assist immeasurably in curtailing the spread of the disease among other children.
The Commissioner warned people to desist from forming needless gatherings, especially as harmattan is fast approaching, a situation where diphtheria hits its peak.
“He added that if the gathering is imperative, it shouldn’t be indoor where there is no adequate ventilation, advising that it should rather be in an open place with strict observance of facemask usage, because it helps filtering viruses that one may inhale.
“Dr. Labaran revealed that the most important protection against diphtheria is vaccination and called on parents to ensure their children of between 4 to 14 years are fully vaccinated three times sequentially, one after every four weeks, so that their body become fully protected.
“Dr. Labaran concluded by saying that, if a child is confirmed infected with the diphtheria, all his family members must be vaccinated without considering their age bracket and gender, adding that even their neighbours have to also be vaccinated for them not to get infected with the diphtheria,” the statement concluded.