Kogi records 2 confirmed cholera cases

Kogi seems to be among the six states in Nigeria that have mild cases of cholera, recording only two  confirmed cases.

The State Commissioner for Health, Mr Abdullazeez Adam, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lokoja that cases were confirmed with one victim treated and discharged.

Adam said that he was aware that 31 states, including FCT, Abuja had epidemic level of Cholera, which is of public health importance, meaning the remaining six states may have, but not to epidemic level.

On measures taken by the state government to address the situation in the state, he said drastic measures have been taken to ensure that the disease is brought under control.

Adam urged the public to report any suspected case of Cholera and  maintain good hygiene, noting that Cholera was basically about good hygiene.

According to him, they have been sensitising and enlightening people on the need for them to keep good hygiene by living in clean environments, drinking potable water, and avoiding open defecation.

The commissioner said that the government had come to realize that open defecation, bad drinking water and dirty environments are main causes of Cholera.

The commissioner added: “I can generally conclude that though Kogi is fully prepared to deal with the Cholera disease, we have but just one case as we speak

Similarly, the Niger Government says data available shows that there were no confirmed cases of cholera in the state.

Dr Idris Ibrahim, Director Public Health, Niger Ministry for Secondary and Tertiary Health, said the state was not relenting as all precautionary measures had been put in place to respond and mitigate against any outbreak.

Ibrahim said there were two surveillance officers in each local government area with their two assistants reporting situations to the state as part of coordination structure.

He added surveillance officers were also positioned at health facilities with a high volume of patients going through the outpatients register to identify any case of patients with symptoms of vomiting and purging.

The director said the ministry had trained some persons called “community informants”, as contacts tracers to identify persons taken to traditional herbal care homes with symptoms like diarrhoea and vomiting.

He disclosed that officials of the state public health and the state epidemiology departments alongside partners such as WHO and UNICEF meet twice weekly to discuss data.

Ibrahim said the state had taken preposition measures to deploy consumables and drugs across local government areas as preparedness to respond to any emergency case, adding that data was constantly transmitted to the national level.

He disclosed that the ministry had embarked on sensitisation using media organisations to sensitise the public on personal hygiene and how to keep their environment clean.

He added that part of the sensitization was public health education for people to always visit a nearby health facility when they are sick for proper medical treatment.

Also in Nasarawa State, Dr Gaza Gwamna, the State Commissioner for Health says there were no confirmed cases of cholera outbreak in the state.

Gwamna however said that 29 suspected cases of cholera were recorded in two out of the 13 LGAs of the state.

He explained that 19 suspected cases were recorded in Kokona and 10 in Nasarawa-Eggon LGAs with one mortality.

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