The death toll from cerebrospinal meningitis in Nigeria has risen to 156, up from the previous 74, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.

The latest data, released by the NCDC on Sunday, covering week 40 of 2024 to week 12 of 2025, shows that 126 confirmed cases have been recorded out of 1,858 suspected cases across 23 states and 121 local government areas.

The national case fatality rate stands at 8.4%.

The 23 affected states include Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Benue, Borno, Ebonyi, Ekiti, FCT, Gombe, Jigawa, Kano, Kaduna, Katsina, Kebbi, Niger, Ondo, Osun, Oyo, Plateau, Sokoto, and Yobe.

The states that recorded deaths are Kebbi (67); Sokoto (33); Katsina (16); Jigawa (six); Yobe (11); Bauchi (six); Gombe (nine); Borno (one); Kano (five); Adamawa (one); and Oyo (one).

The report from NCDC noted that as of March 23, 2025, “A total of 1,826 suspected cases with 151 deaths (CFR 8.3 per cent) have been reported from 23 states in the current season. A total of 289 samples were collected from some of the reported suspected cases since the beginning of the season, with 126 confirmed (44 per cent positivity rate) NmC accounts for 27 per cent, NmW 13.5 per cent, Spn 2.1 per centand NmX 0.7 per centand Hib 0.3 per cent each of the confirmed cases. Age group 5 -14 years remains most affected group. 60 per cent of the total suspected cases are Male.

“Ninety-four per cent of all suspected cases are being reported from 10 states – Kebbi (881), Katsina (158), Jigawa (147), Yobe (109), Gombe (47), Sokoto (303), Borno (36), Adamawa (27), Oyo (23) and Bauchi (66).

“Seventeen LGAs across nine states reported more than ten suspected cases in the current CSM season. Gwandu (313), Tambuwal (155), Aleiro (143), Katsina (69), Kankia (54), Sule-Tankarkar (29), Jega (61), Fune (28), Maiduguri (29), Jahun (15), Birnin kudu (13), Nafada (13), Nguru (53), Bauch (25), Gamawa (20), Taura (14), Sule-Tankarkar (30), Birnin kudu (13), Nafada (13) and Yola South (13).”

The public health institute noted that its multi-sectoral Emergency Operations Centre is coordinating response activities in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Health, the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, the Nigerian Meteorological Agency, and development partners.

It highlighted inadequate trained personnel in states for case management (i.e., LP procedures), lack of CSM commodities some facilities, poor and inconsistent reporting from states, poor data quality, lack of active case search at secondary and tertiary facilities, late/non-reporting from communities up to the states/national levels, poor health seeking behaviour, and personal and community hygiene promotion as the challenges in tackling the outbreak.


https://punchng.com/meningitis-death-toll-hits-156-suspected-cases-1858/