The Director General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC), Dr. Jide Idris, says that Nigeria has so far recorded 169 deaths from Lassa fever, Mpox and cholera this year.
Speaking at the national health security briefing on Friday, Dr. Idris reiterated the commitment of his agency to safeguarding public health by ensuring the timely dissemination of accurate and transparent health information.
He promised that the NCDC, the state ministries of health and the development partners would continue to maintain close watch over infectious disease trends.
He said that Nigeria had so far recorded 4,253 suspected cases of Lassa fever this year out of which 696 were confirmed, and 132 deaths reported, indicating a case fatality rate of 19%.
Idris said that 723 suspected cases of Mpox were recorded between January and mid-April, while 136 cases were confirmed with three deaths.
He said that there had been 1,307 suspected cases of cholera with 34 related deaths, putting the case fatality rate at 2.6%, which is higher than the World Health Organisation (WHO) target of below 1%.