Thirty-three persons have been confirmed dead in Yobe State following an outbreak of a killer disease many suspect to be cholera.
The state commissioner for Health, Hajiya Fatsuma Talba, who confirmed the incident to newsmen in her office in Damaturu, the state capital, however, said that contrary to people’s opinion, the 690 cases recorded so far were a combined figure for identified cholera and cases of gastroenteritis
She lauded the quick intervention of the state government through the ministry of health which, she said, reduced the number of casualties that would have been recorded from the cases of diarrhoea and vomiting.
She said the state government had already released the sum of N3 million for drugs and was prepared to do all within its power to address the health problem generally.
She said that the laboratory test showed that the cholera cases were very few, and added that most of the patients she visited at the hospitals in Fika, Potiskum and Nangere were suffering from gastroenteritis and other water-related diseases.
She expressed surprise at the ignorance among the people, especially relatives of the patients from the rural areas, who flocked into the hospitals, and pointed out that such had to stopp because cholera was infectious and many who came to the hospital ended up being infected themselves.
She said that an immediate directive had been given to all the hospitals to restrict visitors to the hospitals in order to avoid further spread.
She added that the ministry would embark on enlightenment campaigns to sensitise the people on some of the harmful practices in cases of outbreak, pointing out the ministrywas collaborating with donor agencies for both technical and logistic support.
She then commended the state governor, Ibrahim Gaidam, for the timely release of fund to curtail the spread and treat patients at the wake of the infection last Thursday.
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