Cholera Kills 100

The Adamawa State government has confirmed the death of 100 people in different parts of the state from a cholera outbreak.

Dr Zainab Kwonchi, the Commissioner of Health, who gave the information in Yola yesterday, said 1,200 people were infected by the disease.

She said the most affected areas were Sukur, Pallam, Duhu, Belbel, Girjiya and Gulak, as well as Shuwa and Hyambula in Madagali Local Government Area.

Kwonchi said other areas hit by the disease were Lamurde, Mubi, Yola and Numan, but added that the government was making efforts to control its spread.

In the past one week alone, the disease has killed about 283 people in some states in the northern part of the country. According to some official figures, the figure of those infected in the past two weeks has also risen to above 5,000 from the earlier announced 4,600. Among the states worst hit according to an international report are Yobe, Katsina and Kaduna. It has also killed scores of people in Bauchi State.

Cholera, a water-born disease, causes serious diarrhoea and vomiting, leading to dehydration and within a short incubation period it could be fatal if not treated.

The last outbreak was recorded in Yobe State where 42 people died in the past week from the disease characterised by vomiting and diarrhoea. Sixteen persons also died as a result of suspected gastro-enteritis, while 226 others have been hospitalised in Funtua and Kankia Local Government Councils of Katsina State.

In his reaction to the outbreak, Health Minister, Onyebuchi Chukwu named some states, particularly in the North like Borno, Bauchi and Adamawa as being the worst hit.

Cholera has also killed at least four people in a village in Kaduna State in the past week as a result of contamination of open wells, the state Health Commissioner, Charity Shekari said.

—Eromosele Ebhomele with Agency Report