Kano State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Abubakar Labaran Yusuf, has called on the general public to stay away from unnecessary gatherings to protect themselves and others from contracting diphtheria.
Yusuf made the call in a statement signed yesterday by the spokesperson of the Kano State Ministry of Health, Ibrahim Abdullahi.
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This, according to him, is to further sensitize people on the importance of sticking to the precautionary measures by all and sundry, with a view to tackling the spread of the diphtheria disease in Kano, which is the second most populous state in the country.
The commissioner said diphtheria is an airborne disease; therefore, any person suspected of having contracted the disease or having serious symptoms of catarrh should henceforth be isolated and referred to a health facility.
He stressed that suspected persons shouldn’t mingle with healthy individuals, coughing, sneezing, and shaking hands, pointing out that these are the major ways of transmitting the disease.
Labaran advised that if it was a child that was infected, his parents should not allow him to go to school and should hasten to take him to the hospital for proper medical attention through conducting relevant diagnostic tests so as to ascertain if there is the presence of diphtheria or not. He further buttressed that doing that will assist immeasurably in curtailing the spread of the disease among other children.
The commissioner warned people to desist from forming needless gatherings, especially as harmattan is fast approaching.
“He added that if the gathering is imperative, it shouldn’t be indoors where there is no adequate ventilation, advising that it should rather be in an open place with strict observance of facemask usage because it helps in filtering viruses that one may inhale,” the commissioner said.