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•Panic as disease ravages Adamawa communities
From Billy Graham Abel, Yola
•Health officials at one of the affected communities
The records are indeed frightening. A total of 49 people across sexes died of the recent measles outbreak in Mubi and Gombi local governments, Adamawa State. Apart from these statistics, 838 others have been line-listed while 143 positive cases confirmed by health authorities.
The outbreak was first noticed some months ago. In January, some 200 patients were suspected to have contracted the disease in Zah community, Michika. But it was quickly contained.
Daily Sun gathered that health officials, led by Felix Tangwami, swung into action, providing the affected community with necessary vaccinations and a large quantity of Vitamin A supplements, resulting in containing the crisis. However, just when the crisis was assumed to have been checked, it made a sudden retreat and did considerable damage so far.
State Epidemiologist, Kadabiyu Jones, observed that prompt intervention of health authorities mitigated transmission and further spread of the disease during the initial outbreak.
He said about 200 people were affected and were mostly children: “They were provided with reactive vaccination and Vitamin A by the Adamawa Primary Healthcare Development Agency (ADSPHCDA).”
Health authorities told Daily Sun that the disease initially appeared like fever: “But turned out not be measles. In a matter of 24 hours or so, the affected person would come down with rashes spotted all over his body.
“These rashes are mostly bigger than the heat rashes. The patient’s eyes would be red. It is also characterised by the redness of the lips and tongues.”
A mother of four, Aisha, in Zah lost her eight-old-daughter: “I initially thought it was the usual malaria fever or something close to that. I spent all my resources and energy treating malaria with local medication until it was too late.”
Jones told Daily Sun: “The direct impact of government’s intervention saved the disease from spreading further or expanding to other parts of the state. Government sensitised the affected communities, gave out reactive vaccination and provided free consumables for case management.
“Many of the survivors have since returned to good health and have resumed their normal lives. The number of the cases of measles in the state has drastically gone down.
“Our record also shows that there are about 49 deaths, and of the 838 cases line listed, about 762 cases have recovered and 27 are active cases in five local governments.
“Governor Fintiri has put in place strong measures to ensure every child is vaccinated to avoid future occurrence by providing all vaccines for preventable diseases in the state.
“There is also a call by the State Public Health Emergency Operations Centre (PHEOC), to all preliminary and primary schools to ensure that every child tender their immunisation card before being admitted into school as school.” Schools have since resumed on Monday, May 13, 2024.
He government deployed surveillance personnel to track the outbreak: “We want to ensure that all vulnerable groups within the vaccination range will be captured within the ongoing vaccination exercise. He said government’s closure of schools was designed to enable all children with the age bracket of vaccination were reached in the on going exercise and to forestall further spread of the disease in schools and among children.
Commissioner for Health and Human Services, Felix Tangwame, had on Monday, May 6, 2024, ordered the immediate closure of all public and private schools following the outbreak of measles. It was aimed at mitigating the spread of the dis- ease and enabling PHCDA to vaccinate the vulnerable age group.
A statement by Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education and Human Capital Development, Aisha Umar, rescheduled the resumption date of schools
