Cholera has claimed 325 lives in six months with 14,343 suspected cases reported in 16 states.
The latest cholera situation report of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) showed that the affected states as at June 27 were Benue, Delta, Zamfara, Gombe, Bayelsa, Kogi, Sokoto, Bauchi, Kano, Kaduna, Plateau, Kebbi, Cross River, Niger, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and Nasarawa.
The report said there was an increase in the number of new cases in the last two weeks of June, adding that “Zamfara with 191 cases, Bauchi 2163 cases, Kano 891 cases, Kaduna 129 cases, and Plateau, 82, account for 95.2% of 3,543 cases reported in the last two weeks.”
The cases and deaths have been rising and spreading to more states since then.
For instance, fatalities from cholera in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have risen to 60, the FCT Minister of State, Dr. Ramatu Tijjani Aliyu said yesterday.
According to the NCDC, cholera is an acute diarrhoea disease caused by a bacteria called vibrio cholera. It is a potentially life-threatening, and primarily a water-borne disease.
The bacteria is transmitted mainly through the faeco-oral, that is by the ingestion of contaminated food or water and its transmission is closely linked to inadequate access to clean water and sanitation facilities.
Symptoms of cholera include nausea and vomiting, dehydration which can lead to shock, kidney injury and sudden death, the passage of profuse pale and milky, watery stool (rice watercoloured), and body weakness.
It could also come with intense thirst and decrease in urine quantity, with or without abdominal pain, and with or without fever.
Doctors say many affected persons may not manifest symptoms or may develop a milder form of the disease but will still remain carriers spreading the disease.
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