The World Health Organization has reported an outbreak of Yellow Fever, which has hit five states in Nigeria. The first case of sickness was reported in the Ute Okpu Community in the Ika North-East local government area of Delta State on 24 July, with the patient dying on the 28th. By 10 November 2020, at total of 65 cases had been reported in the state, with 33 fatalities, with death typically occurring a week after the first syptoms were reported, and being proceded by fever, vomiting (with or without blood), bleeding, seizures, and unconsciousness. The patients, who are mostly from farming communities, were tested for Yellow Fever, Lassa Fever and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2, though all tested negative for the latter two conditions. In Early Novermber the first of a cluster of deaths was recorded in Enugu State, where 10 of 13 cases have died; patients here were tested for Yellow Fever, Lassa Fever, Cerebrospinal Meningitis and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2, and again tested negative for all diseases other than Yellow Fever. The disease has now also been confirmed in Bauchi State, where eight patients have tested positive since 8 November, though no fatalities have been recorded, Benue State, where three cases have been reported, and Ebonyi State, where is a single case has been reported.
Yellow Fever is a Mosquito-born Flavivirus (the group of RNA Viruses that also includes the West Nile, Zika and Hepatitis C Viruses). The Virus causes a mild fever, accompanied loss of apatite, nausea and muscle pains, which passes within about 15 days. However, in about 15 % of cases a more severe infection attacks the liver and kidneys, which can lead to their failure, and therefore the death of the patient. It originated in tropical Africa and but was carried to South America and the Caribbean during the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Outbreaks of the disease have also been recorded in parts of tropical Asia and the Pacific in recent years, and many countries in tropical regions require visitors to carry a certificate proving they have been vaccinated against the Virus.
Yellow fever can be prevented through vaccination, but uptake of this is considered to be dangerously low in Nigeria. To this end the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Health and World Health Organisation have initiated a program to encourage immunisation within the country, with around 54% of the country vaccinated between 2004 and 2019. There are currently 30 million doses of the vaccine available in Nigeria, with Delta and Bauchi states among those been targetted for the next phase of immunisation.
Yellow Fever re-emerged in Nigeria in 2017, with cases subsequently reported in all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory. The World Health Organisation regards Nigeria as a high risk country for Yellow Fever, as the disease is able to spread epizotically (in wildlife), with Human infections being essentially a spillover from an unseen epidemic.
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