Cholera spreads, kills 393 in Kano, Katsina, Sokoto, Kebbi, others, many hospitalised

 

The cholera outbreak in some states across Nigeria has continued to  spread, killing some 393 persons and leaving thousands hospitalised.

The affected states are  Katsina, Gombe, Kano, Kebbi, Sokoto , and Zamfara

Katsina

In Katsina state for instance, the state government confirmed the death of 75 people in different parts of the state within the period of five days.

 The state’s commissioner for health,  Engr. Nuhu Yakubu Danja,   revealed this at a press conference Wednesday in Katsina.

  He said a total of 1,534 cases were recorded across 25 out of the 34 local government areas of the state.

While giving the breakdown on the basis of local government areas,  Danja said Funtua  recorded the highest number of 384 cases, Sabuwa got 232, and Kafur  had  215 cases.

 He said: “67 per cent of the reported cases were children between the range of 15 years, three cases were reported for under one-year-old while 53 per cent were adult males.” 

 The commissioner said medical supply kits and other consumables had been distributed to the affected communities for quick intervention.

Danja said the insecurity in some parts of the state was making access for contact search and tracing of the affected persons by health workers difficult.  

Responding, Dr Musa Garba Ruwansanyi said the disease spread due to unhygienic water used, food and poor environment in some communities.

 He described cholera as an acute diarrhoea caused by infection of the intestine with the bacteria vibro cholerae

 Gombe

Also, Gombe state government Wednesday said the disease had killed four people while 48 others tested positive out of the 77 gastroenteritis cases recorded in the state.
The state commissioner for health, Dr Habu Dahiru, stated this in Gombe  while briefing journalists on the update of the cholera outbreak in the state.
 Dahiru said the government had placed three settlements in the state capital namely, Shamakhi, Bolari-east and Herwagana wards of Gombe local government area on red alert.

The state had within the first and second quarter announced a cholera outbreak in Yalmatu Deba and Akko local government areas with 178 persons treated and discharged, while two children reportedly died.

Way out
On the way out, Dahiru noted that water collected from the well should be filtered, vegetables treated with salt water or vinegar.

He said the ministry was working in collaboration with the ministry of water resources and environment towards mitigating the spread.
 “We have a total of 77 cases of gastroenteritis and 48 of them have been confirmed to be positive for cholera. Out of the 77 cases, we lost four patients from the 48 positives with cholera.
“Cholera is characterised by severe diarrhoea and vomiting and can be rapidly fatal if prompt and urgent actions are not taken towards management of cases and effective infection prevention control. It is easily spread in the community if control measures are sub-optimal,” the commissioner said.
He stated the need for personal hygiene, noting that water collected from wells must be filtered while vegetables should be washed with vinegar or saltwater before consumption.

“The ministry is working with the Ministry of Environment and Water Resources to mitigate it,” he further said.

146 confirmed dead in Kebbi

Similarly, a Kebbi state government official said not less than 146 people have so far  died since cholera broke out in the state. 

Premium Times reported how the cholera outbreak is spreading in Nigeria with states in the North-west region recording high casualties.

 Zamfara reported 30 cases while  Sokoto  had 23 and Kano announced  119 deaths as at Tuesday.

In a phone interview Wednesday morning, Aminu Bunza, the executive secretary of Sir Yahaya Memorial Hospital in Kebbi, confirmed the figure for the state.

He said the outbreak was first recorded in Sakaba local government area of Kebbi state, adding that 2,028 persons had been infected by the disease as of Wednesday.

“The outbreak was first recorded in Dirin Daji community of Sakaba and it has now spread to 20 local government areas of the state. The affected people spread across the local government areas,” said the government official.

The hospital boss said the state government was taking steps to stem the spread of the disease.

 “The state government has provided equipment and drugs to all the local government areas and trained health personnel to ensure the issue is being tackled even in the areas where the outbreak has not been recorded,” Bunza said.

He called on  people of the state to ensure personal and environmental hygiene and also drink clean water.

The hospital boss also called on health personnel to avoid rendering home services to suspected cases, urging people to report suspected cases to the nearest health facility

About Hamidu Sabo, Katsina and Auwal Ahmad, Gombe

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