Cholera spreads through contaminated food and water, reappearing periodically in countries like Nigeria where people are unable to secure access to clean drinking water and ensure adequate sanitation.
The Ogun State Government, South-west Nigeria, has confirmed that within the last 30 days 12 persons have died of Cholera in the state.
The state's Commissioner for Health, Tomi Coker, on Thursday, said the 12 fatalities were recorded out of about 246 cases recorded so far.
Mrs Coker said this on the sideline of a stakeholders' engagement held at the ministry of health, in Abeokuta, the state capital.
How it started
The government had in September alerted residents of the outbreak of Cholera disease in Ijebu North Local Government Area of the state.
Cases were later reported in both Abeokuta North and Abeokuta South Local Government Areas, which are located in the capital city of the state.
Mrs Coker, an obstetrician and gynaecologist, noted that the cholera outbreak is being fuelled by "high level of open defecation, poor waste management and poor water source."
She said; "Unfortunately, we have a report of 246 cases and there has been at least about 12 deaths, which brings us to fatality rate of 44.6 per cent.
"This is slightly high for a state like ours because we are educated. And from what we found out that's actually promoting the cholera outbreak is the fact that there is a high level of open defecation in the state.
"It started in Ijebu North Local Government Area where we have 217 cases, but now we have more reports. We have some from Abeokuta North last week. We have two reports from Abeokuta South."
Way forward
To curtail the outbreak, the commissioner said the government has commenced chlorinating wells in Ijebu North Local Government Area, the local government worst hit by the disease.
She added that her ministry is also collaborating with the Ministry of Environment and other relevant Ministries, Departments, and Agencies to contain the spread of the disease.
The commissioner, however, advised residents of the state to avoid open defecation, construct affordable toilets and sanitary wells in their homes.
She also warned that the government may seal houses without toilets in the interest of public health.
The commissioner said: "It is unfortunate that our people still engage in open defecation, unaware that fecal materials enter shallow wells, which many of them use as water sources. For instance, in Ijebu-North Local Government, we found 52 shallow wells and microbiological testing revealed that 75 per cent of these wells had evidence of fecal contamination with coliform bacteria.
"We will work with our colleagues in the environment ministry to ensure sanitation, promote the use of appropriate sanitary facilities in homes, and construct sanitary wells. These wells should be well-built and less likely to be contaminated by fecal material, especially during the period of incessant rainfall and flooding, which washes fecal material into our water sources".
Cholera cases in Nigeria
In September Nigeria announced that a total of 210 new suspected cases of Cholera infections and 10 'suspected' deaths across eight states of the federation were recorded from 31 July to 27 August.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) disclosed this in its monthly situation report on Cholera, covering Epidemiological (EP) weeks 31 to 34.
The report shows that the suspected cases and deaths of Cholera in 2023 had decreased by 63 and 67 per cent respectively compared to what was reported at epidemiological week 34 in 2022.
The report revealed that as of 27 August, Nigeria had recorded 84 suspected deaths and 2,860 suspected cases across 25 states, representing a Case Fatality Ratio (CFR) of 2.9 per cent.
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Cumulatively, the report shows that six states: Cross River (718 cases), Katsina (302 cases), Bayelsa (265 cases), Ebonyi (227 cases), Niger (136 cases) and Abia (118 cases) accounted for 62 per cent of the suspected cases in 2023.
Cholera
Cholera is an acute intestinal infection caused by the Vibrio cholera bacillus.
The disease spreads through contaminated food and water, reappearing periodically in countries like Nigeria where people are unable to secure access to clean drinking water and ensure adequate sanitation.
It is a preventable and treatable epidemic-prone disease. The number of cholera cases tends to increase with the outset of the rainy season.
The risk of death from cholera is higher when treatment is delayed. It is very important to visit a health facility if anyone has watery diarrhoea and vomiting symptoms.
