NCDC says 289 Nigerian have died of cholera in six months

The Nigerian centre for disease control (NCDC) has said a total of 289 Nigerians have died from Cholera disease between January and June, 2021.

NCDC, which disclosed this in a statement on Monday, noted that the disease is currently ravaging eight states of the federation.

The disease centre listed the affected states as Plateau, Bauchi, Gombe, Kano, Zamfara, Bayelsa and Kaduna.

Cholera — a diarrheal disease that can kill within hours if not promptly treated, is endemic in Nigeria, with outbreaks reported as far back as the 1970s.

According to NCDC, in the last one month, an increasing number of cholera cases has been reported in most of the aforementioned states, with 441 suspected cases and six deaths recorded in Plateau alone, last week.

The cholera outbreak in Bauchi last month has spread across nine districts in the state with the state capital, Bauchi, being the worst hit, Mohammed Maigoro, the state health commissioner said, in a report by African News in late May.

“So far, we have recorded 20 deaths and 322 cases from the cholera outbreak in nine local government areas of Bauchi in the past two weeks,” Mr Maigoro was quoted as saying, in the publication.

“The Bauchi metropolis has been worst affected, accounting for half of the fatalities and 147 out of the 322 reported cases,” he added.

The NCDC said between January and June 22, 2021, a total of 10,833 suspected cholera cases have been reported including 112 laboratory confirmed cases.

To prevent the risk of large outbreaks across states, NCDC said it has activated a multi-sectoral National Cholera Emergency Operations Centre (EOC), following an increase in the cases.

The agency said; “The National EOC has been supporting states to ensure a coordinated, rapid and effective response to the ongoing outbreak. This includes the deployment of National Rapid Response Teams (RRT) to support the response at state level, provision of medical and laboratory supplies, scale up of risk communications amongst other activities.”

“Additionally, the resources that have been developed as part of Nigeria’s COVID-19 response are being used to strengthen the response to the cholera outbreak. This includes the digitalisation of the national surveillance system, establishment of laboratories and treatment centres, training of health workers among others.” the agency said.