The World Health Organisation has raised an alarm about the possible outbreak of yellow fever in Nigeria.
According to the international organisation, no fewer than 160 million Nigerians are at risk of yellow fever, adding that with Nigeria’s population of about 200 million, the figure makes up around 25 percent of all the people at risk in Africa.
Yellow fever is an acute viral haemorrhagic disease transmitted by infected mosquitoes.
Symptoms of yellow fever include fever, headache, jaundice, muscle pain, nausea, vomiting, and fatigue.
The WHO also said Nigeria is at risk of both urban and sylvatic (jungle) exposure to the disease.
“Yellow fever is dangerous because a small percentage of patients will go through a more toxic phase of the disease. By then, they will experience fever, and have a system failure, mainly in the kidney and liver. They may experience bleeding coming from the mouth, nose and eyes and within 7 to 10 days, half of them will die”, Medical Officer, WHO Nigeria, Dr. Anne Eudes Jean Baptiste, said.
The global health body, however, said Nigeria has vaccinated over 45 million people against yellow fever during the COVID-19 pandemic.