- Fed Govt plans national response intervention
Taraba State has become the latest victim of suspected cholera outbreak in the country with at least seven people already confirmed dead at Tella town in Gassol Local Government Area of the State.
This is as the Federal Government has moved to inaugurate National Environmental Sanitation Response Intervention against the disease in the country.
Confirming the development in Jalingo, the Taraba state capital, Commissioner for Health, Innocent Vakkai, also announced that several other persons have been hospitalised in healthcare centres in the area with symptoms of severe stooling and vomiting.
Vakkai disclosed that a team of medical experts from the state Ministry of Health had been dispatched to the area to investigate the cases and report back immediately.
Also expressing concerns about the health emergency, Chairman of Gassol Local Government Area, Alhaji Musa Chul, said at least 25 persons were on admission at the Tella Maternity Clinic after exhibiting symptoms of cholera.
In a telephone interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Chul confirmed receiving a report from Tella on Saturday evening that three people had died of vomiting and strolling in the area.
The Council boss also stated that a health team from the local government was dispatched on Sunday morning to the town for a thorough investigation of the incident.
He said before the arrival of the local government medical team, four others were also said to have died on Sunday due to severe vomiting and strolling.
According to him, the worst-hit area of the outbreak is Unguwan Kabawa, a suburb of Tella, where the first suspected cases were reported on Saturday evening.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Environment, Dr. Mohammad Abubakar, said the Federal Government will soon inaugurate National Environmental Sanitation Response Intervention against cholera outbreak in Kubwa in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Dr Abubakar was addressing reporters on the cholera outbreak in Abuja, as Kubwa, a residential district in Bwari Area Council and one of the major suburbs within the metropolitan area of Abuja emerged the epicenter in the FCT.
General information from World Health Organisation (WHO) describes Cholera as “an acute, diarrheal illness caused by infection of the intestine with the toxigenic bacterium Vibrio cholerae serogroup O1 or O139.”
Statistics indicate that an estimated 2.9 million cases and 95,000 deaths occur each year around the world. The infection is often mild or without symptoms, but can be severe.
Approximately one (1) in 10 people who get sick with cholera will develop severe symptoms such as watery diarrhea, vomiting, and leg cramps. In these people, rapid loss of body fluids leads to dehydration and shock. Health experts say without treatment, death can occur within hours.
