Cholera outbreak death toll hits 86

The Federal Government on Thursday gave an update on the outbreak of cholera in some parts of the country with casualty rate put at 86 in 1,623 reported cases.

The government also directed the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control to immediately coordinate all its response activities and report to the Ministry of Health daily on both the patterns of occurrence, efforts at achieving total control of the outbreaks as well as the status of the control.

The cholera outbreak has affected a number of states including Ogun, Oyo, Plateau, Zamfara, Nasarawa and Lagos states.

The Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, in a statement by his Special Assistant, Media and Communication, Mr. Dan Nwomeh, also directed all federal health facilities in the country to provide free services to cholera patients.

According to him, the current estimate of the patterns of distribution of the outbreaks across the country are as follows:

He said, “In Zamfara State: 1,110 cases, 51 deaths; Nasarawa State: 105 cases and 9 deaths; Lagos State: 134 cases, 4 deaths; Plateau State: 130cases, 11 deaths; Oyo State: 29 cases, 6 deaths; and Ogun State: 115 cases and 5 deaths. Total: 1,623 cases and 86 deaths.

“These are estimates, because trickles of incidences and mortalities may still be coming. However, in Sokoto and Katsina states, the gastro-enteritis outbreaks have not been proven to be cholera. While further investigations continue, only confirmed cases are included in the current statistics.

“The outbreak in the states mentioned earlier has been confirmed by our laboratories to be caused by Vibiro cholerae serotypes 01 and 0139. The affected states are being supported to respond to the outbreak by supplying them with emergency drugs, diagnostic kits and other commodities.”

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