Cholera Outbreak: Death Toll Rises to 103 with 3,623 Suspected Cases

•NCDC: Cases largely under-reported 

•Says rainy season likely to worsen disease burden

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) has revealed that Nigeria has recorded 3,623 suspected cholera cases with 103 deaths across 34 states plus the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and 187 Local Government Areas.

With the upsurge in rainfall, the NCDC said it has started implementing the national incident action plan for response targeted at supporting states to conduct active case search, optimise laboratory capacity, prepositioning of cholera management supplies and capacity building in anticipation of possible surge ahead.

The Centre said the country was witnessing a decline in cholera cumulative case fatality rate at 2.8 percent since the beginning of the year.

The NCDC however said the case fatality rate was still above the globally acceptable rate of one percent.

The Centre also said there were two suspected cases of Yellow fever in Ekiti state, one in Bayelsa and with one recorded death.

While addressing journalists on the update on infectious disease in Nigeria, the Director General of NCDC, Dr. Jide Idris said, “As of July 15, 2024, we have recorded 3,623 suspected cases and, unfortunately, 103 deaths across 34 states plus the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and 187 Local Government Areas (LGAs), with a cumulative case fatality rate of 2.8 percent since the beginning of the year.

“The predominant age affected is five years old while males account for 52 percent of cases and females account for the rest.”

He further said there was a 5.6 percent decline in the number of cases in this reporting week (8th -14th July) as compared to the preceding week.

“We also recorded a drop in the case fatality rate from 2.9 percent to 2.8 per cent. Definitely there is a decline in case fatality rate from week 24 when the spike started to the present week,” he added.

Idris, said the NCDC has deployed national rapid response teams (NRRT) to the top six states contributing about 83 per cent of cases.

The States are Lagos, Bayelsa, Abia, Ebonyi, Katsina and Zamfara States.

He advised members of the public to ensure that water is boiled and stored in a clean and covered container before drinking.

He also urged people to practice proper hand hygiene by washing your hands frequently with soap under clean running water.

While responding to questions, the DG said part of the lessons the country learnt over the years with the outbreak of Ebola and COVID-19 was in the area early disease detection.

However, he said prevention measures have not fared well due to the complexities involved in getting all the people expected to play key roles to do what they were expected to do.

For instance, he said some aspects of the preventive measures were supposed to be handled at the state level.

He noted that the Supreme Court judgement was likely to affect the ways the centre operates, adding it might now be necessary to also deal with the local governments just like the states.

According to the DG, trend analysis from previous outbreaks showed the peak of the outbreak usually coincides with the peak of the rainy season, which is still some weeks ahead.

He also said some of the northern traditional hotspot states have been reporting fewer number of cases, which may be connected with the delayed onset of the rainy season in this part of the country.

The DG said: “Although almost all the states in Nigeria have reported cases of cholera, there is appears to be an underreporting of the situation as required data from the states are not coming real time as expected given the trend in previous years.

“This is largely due to inadequate resources to support surveillance and disease detection activities at the subnational level.

“Additionally this may likely be further complicated by effect of political undertone for reporting cholera, which some see as a Stigma or disease proxy indicator for inability of the affected communities/persons to have access to potable water and other basic amenities of life.”