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130 LGAs Records Outbreak of Meningitis, Kills 183

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Nigeria has reported a total of 287 confirmed cases out of 2,707 suspected cases of meningitis, including 183 deaths, with a case-fatality ratio of 6.8 per cent.

Their cases were reported from 130 Local Government Areas in 24 states, including the Federal Capital Territory in Nigeria from From October 2022, to July 2, 2023.

This is according to the epidemiology situation of the disease released by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.

Meningitis is a serious infection of the meninges, the membranes covering the brain and spinal cord. It is a devastating disease and remains a major public health challenge. The disease can be caused by many different pathogens including bacteria, fungi or viruses, but the highest global burden is seen with bacterial meningitis.

Several different bacteria can cause meningitis. Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae, and Neisseria meningitidis are the most frequent ones. N. meningitidis, causing meningococcal meningitis, is the one with the potential to produce large epidemics.

Meningococcal meningitis is transmitted from person to person through droplets of respiratory and throat secretions, usually by asymptomatic carriers. Close, prolonged contact with an infected person, or living with a carrier, facilitates the spread of the disease. The average incubation period is four days but can range between two and 10 days.

Abia, Adamawa, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Benue, Borno, Delta, Ebonyi, Gombe, Imo, Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger, Oyo, Plateau, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe and Zamfara states reported the suspected CSM cases.

The report partly read that as of July 2, “A total of 2,707 suspected cases including 183 deaths have been reported from 24 states in this 2022/2023 CSM season. A total of 667 samples collected (25 per cent) from 2,707 suspected cases from beginning of the outbreak, and 298 confirmed (45 per cent positivity rate).

“The five to 14-year-old age group was the most affected. 54 per cent of the total suspected cases were Males. 98 per cent of all suspected cases were from six (10) states – Jigawa (1508 cases), Yobe (654 cases), Katsina (177 cases), Bauchi (123 cases), Zamfara (53 cases), Adamawa (45 cases), Gombe (26 cases), Kano (10 cases) and Sokoto (10 cases).

“Nineteen LGAs across five states, Jigawa (10), Katsina (4), Yobe (2), Bauchi (2) and Zamfara (1), reported more than 20 cases each this 2022/2023 CSM season.”

The NCDC, however, said it will continue to support affected states with essential response commodities.

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JUST IN: Doctors in FCT Commence Indefinite Strike Over Outstanding Issues

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The Association of Resident Doctors in the Federal Capital Territory Administration on Monday began an indefinite strike on Monday.

This was disclosed in a communique issued by the ARD-FCT on Monday, signed by its President, Dr. George Ebong, and General-Secretary, Dr. Agbor Affiong.

The association had embarked on a seven-day warning strike last Monday to press home its demands, following months of unresolved negotiations with the FCTA.

Details later.

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Overworked RSUTH Resident Doctor Slump, Dies on Duty

What happened is that he was on call in the Emergency Room. Afterward, he went to the call room to rest, and it was there that he died. Unfortunately, he was the only one attending to the patients.

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Dr Oluwafemi Rotifa, a young resident doctor at the Rivers State University Teaching Hospital (RSUTH) collapsed and died after a gruelling 72-hour call duty.

Ohibaba.com reliably gathered that the deceased doctor, fondly called Femoski by colleagues, was a former President of the Port Harcourt University Medical Students’ Association, PUMSA, and was registered with the United Kingdom’s General Medical Council, awaiting placement abroad.

The President of the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors, NARD, Dr. Tope Osundara, who confirmed Rotifa’s death, said that the deceased doctor had been on continuous call duty for three days in the Emergency Room before he retreated to the call room to rest.

It was there that he slumped and later died, despite efforts to resuscitate him in the Intensive Care Unit.

“What happened is that he was on call in the Emergency Room. Afterward, he went to the call room to rest, and it was there that he died. Unfortunately, he was the only one attending to the patients.

“The overuse of manpower strained his health and led to this painful death. It was a death on duty,” Osundara lamented.

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Rumours of Trump’s ill health spread online despite denial

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From manipulated images to out-of-context photos, false claims that Donald Trump is seriously ill — or even dead — have swirled online, with the misinformation persisting even after the US president publicly rejected it on Tuesday.

At a White House press conference, Trump dismissed social media rumours about his health as “fake news,” following the 79-year-old’s noticeable absence from public appearances and press events last week.

Since last Friday, there were around 104,000 mentions of the hashtag “Trump dead” on the Elon Musk-owned platform X, generating a cumulative 35.3 million views, according to an analysis from the misinformation watchdog NewsGuard.

Some social media users cited online maps purportedly showing road closures near Maryland’s Walter Reed National Military Medical Centre as evidence that Trump was being treated for a serious ailment at the facility.

But there were no credible reports of road closures around the medical facility.

Other social media users shared an image of an ambulance parked outside the White House, claiming it was taken last month and citing it as evidence of a health crisis involving Trump.

It was actually an old photo posted by a journalist on X in April 2023 — while Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden, was still in office, according to NewsGuard.

Some users claiming that Trump was dead shared an out-of-context image of the White House flag flying at half-staff, a traditional gesture used to honour the death of a prominent official.

In reality, Trump had issued a proclamation last week ordering flags at the White House, military posts, and naval stations across the country to be lowered in honour of the victims of a school shooting in Minneapolis.

Some users also posted a zoomed-in image of Trump’s face, claiming it showed a deep line above his eye that indicated a recent stroke.

But NewsGuard found that the original image was out of focus and showed no signs of a line over Trump’s eye. The image used in the false posts was digitally enhanced using an AI tool.

The misinformation — which appeared to originate from liberal anti-Trump accounts on X, Bluesky, and Instagram — persisted even after Trump stated on Truth Social over the weekend: “NEVER FELT BETTER IN MY LIFE.”

The falsehoods continued to circulate following Trump’s press conference on Tuesday, where he publicly dismissed the health rumours.

Shortly after the conference, one Bluesky account falsely claimed that the “White House just announced” the president was dead.

The falsehoods highlight how facts are increasingly under assault on a misinformation-filled internet landscape, an issue exacerbated by public distrust of institutions and traditional media.

The health of US presidents has always been closely watched, but with the White House seeing its two oldest ever occupants since 2017, the scrutiny is now heavier than ever.

Trump — the oldest man ever to be elected US president — has alleged that Democrats covered up the mental and physical decline of Biden, who was 82 when he left office in January.

Biden’s health was a key issue in the 2024 election, and the then-president was forced to drop his campaign for a second term after a disastrous debate performance against Trump.

AFP

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