Cholera Outbreak Hits Borno

Borno State Government wednesday raised the alarm over an outbreak of cholera in the state.

Briefing journalists, the state Commissioner for Health, Dr. Haruna Mshelia, said the eight samples sent for laboratory tests proved positive, indicating an outbreak of the disease in the state.

He said though 14 persons have reportedly died in areas where acute water diarrhoea has been diagnosed, he could not confirm if the deaths were due to cholera as no autopsy was carried out. “With the laboratory confirmation of samples of eight suspected cholera cases sent to the National Diseases Control Centre (NCDC) laboratory in Abuja, the Borno State Ministry of Health officially declares an outbreak.

“This official declaration has become important to enable state, partners and NGO to mobilise adequate resources for a timely and comprehensive response to the outbreak which presently concentrates in Madinatu and El-Miskin IDPs camps and Bolori ward in Maiduguri and suburbs.

“Suspected cases have also been reported from Kaga with 28 cases, Konduga (36 cases), Magumeri (139 cases), Old Maiduguri (67 cases), Chibok (78 cases), Damboa (8 cases), Shani (6 cases) and Jere (18 cases),” he said.

Mshelia said the state government has activated the full scale emergency operations for concerted response to an outbreak of this nature.

“As of today, September 5, 2018, a total of 380 cases of suspected cholera have been reported with 14 deaths. Over 250 cases have been treated and discharged. As additional efforts, active case search is ongoing as the World Health Organisation (WHO) engages nearly 200 community Health champions who are currently searching for cases in each household, reporting and referring them to appropriate treatment centres.”

He noted that the local government affected by acute water diarrhoea has grown from 10 to 13.