NCDC Confirms 200 Cases of Cholera in Benue
By George Okoh
About 200 cases of cholera have been confirmed in four local government areas of Guma, Agatu, Gwer West and Makurdi in Benue State.
The Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) National Rapid Response team leader working in the state, Dr. Ikechukwu Oradu, disclosed this when he visited the state Deputy Governor, Benson Abounu, at the Government House in Makurdi, where he informed him that findings revealed that the affected communities lack portable water, as the people were drinking directly from the river.
Oradu appealed for boreholes and public toilets for the communities in order to stop open defecation as well as the provision of rapid diagnostic kits for testing of cholera in the state.
Abounu said the state Ministry of Health and Human Services has treated those affected since the outbreak, which has stopped the mortality rate from escalating.
The deputy governor, however, said approval has been made for the construction of a world-standard testing laboratory for Lassa fever, COVID-19 and other infectious diseases in the state.
