WHO alerts on yellow fever, says 160m at risk
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Some 1,005 Nigerians have suffered yellow fever cases in 2022, collated from the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), and the World Health Organisation (WHO) alerts that 160 million more are at risk of the disease.
WHO disclosed this in an article on its website published on new films showing the impact of yellow fever outbreaks in Taraba and the global efforts to eliminate its epidemics by 2026.
“Nigeria’s population is around 200 million people, with 160 million people at risk of yellow fever. This makes up around 25 per cent of all the people at risk in Africa,” WHO said.
Yellow fever is an acute viral haemorrhagic disease transmitted by infected mosquitoes.
The “yellow” in the name refers to the jaundice that affects some patients. Symptoms include fever, headache, jaundice, muscle pain, nausea, vomiting, and fatigue.
WHO Nigeria Medical Director Anne Baptiste warned that “yellow fever is dangerous because a small percentage of patients will go through a more toxic phase of the disease.
“By then, they will experience fever, have system failure, mainly in the kidney and liver. They may experience bleeding coming from the mouth, nose and eyes and within seven to 10 days, half of them will die.”
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Vaccination against yellow fever
Nigeria is also at risk of both urban and sylvatic (jungle) exposure to the disease, WHO added, per The PUNCH.
Sylvatic exposure is the transmission of yellow fever from mosquitoes that have bitten animals and non-human primates. Workers in mining and agriculture are particularly vulnerable to this type of transmission.
There was a resurgence in yellow fever in Nigeria in 2017 after 15 years.
WHO noted, however, that Nigeria vaccinated over 45 million people against yellow fever during the coronavirus pandemic.
“We have reference laboratories in the country that have been strengthened, and are being supported and assessed to make sure they are meeting all the performance parameters in terms of sample collection and referral to our reference labs in Abuja,” Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) Director General Ifedayo Adetifa said.
“Despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we have given out over 66 million doses in 2020 and 2021 to protect people from yellow fever outbreaks.
“This achievement has been possible through routine immunisation as well as mass vaccination campaigns that identify gaps in the population and proactively target vulnerable communities.”
