Cholera Claims 61 Lives in Yobe

Yobe government on Friday confirmed 906 fresh cases of cholera with 61 deaths and 50 others still on admission in hospitals across the state.

Dr. Muhammad Kawuwa, the Commissioner for Health, stated this in a statement in Damaturu on Friday.

He said Acute Water Diarrhea (AWD) cases were reported in some parts of the state and later confirmed to be cholera after laboratory tests.

“Some of the AWD cases were caused by Vibrio bacterae, the bacteria that cause cholera,“ the commissioner said.

According to him, 906 cases were recorded in six local government areas of the state: Gujba, Gulani, Damaturu, Fune, Potiskum and Nangere in two months.

“Over 795 patients were successfully treated and discharged, 50 are still on admission in various health facilities across the state.

“Unfortunately, we lost 61 patients mainly due to delays in timely reporting to the healthcare facilities for life saving treatment.”

Kawuwa said the Ministry of Health, the World Health Organisation (WHO), University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital and the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Abuja were authenticating the causes of the outbreak.

“In the light of this and due to our continued concern for the health of our people, the state government is therefore declaring outbreak of cholera in the state.”

He said this was necessary to scale up response with the support of the international partners,

The commissioner identified personal hygiene, absence of sanitation facilities in the communities and flooding of water sources by the rains as possible causes of the outbreak.

He called on Water, Sanitation and Health sector partners, religious and traditional leaders and the people to cooperate and support government efforts in containing the outbreak and check the spread.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Yobe government had three months ago declared an earlier cholera outbreak in five local government areas of the state over.

The local government areas are: Bade, Karasuwa, Jakusko, Yusufari and Bursari after 21 days without a report of any new case.

The commissioner said the initial outbreak recorded 16 deaths, in 404 cases with Bade Local Government having 379 cases, Karasuwa 16, Jakusko, four, Yusufari three and Bursari, two.(NAN)