Kastina records 118 suspected cases of cholera

Two confirmed cases and 118 suspected cases of cholera have been confirmed in Katsina State, North-west Nigeria.

The state’s Primary Healthcare Development Agency said the suspected cases were recorded in different local government areas of the state, while the two confirmed cases were recorded Kadusa Local Government Area.

The state’s Incidence Manager and Director of Epidemiology, Kabir Suleiman, disclosed this during a press conference on Wednesday, announcing that the state has begun preparing for the outbreak of the disease.

Strategies in place

Mr Suleiman disclosed that the agency had enforced a sensitive surveillance system to monitor and detect cholera cases across the 34 local government areas and created oral dehydration points.

Oral dehydration points are used to provide oral treatment for patients with suspected cholera and refer those with severe dehydration to cholera treatment facilities.

He said: “We have all the necessary gadgets needed from the local government areas to the state level to respond to these outbreaks.

“Cholera is a very severe illness which is detected with acute diarrhoea commonly associated with a lot of complications. Cholera is basically caused by bacteria.

He said Katsina is one of the most populous states in Nigeria, with over nine million population cut across 34 LGAs and 361 wards. “Among these, we have 21 LGAs that are security-compromised.”

“We have also commenced deployment of commodities to the 34 LGAs of the state because Kastina is one of the states termed as high risk for Cholera based on the report of the global task force for Cholera control,” he said.

Prevention

Mr Suleiman noted that its rapid response system had controlled the outbreak of cholera in the Kadusa local government area earlier in the year.

“Based on our records, the week that we had a big outbreak this year was week 12 around March, where we had an outbreak of Cholera from Kadusa LGA, and we were able to send our rapid response team to the LGA with support from the government and partners… We recorded about 68 cases there with one death,” he said.

He also maintained that the state is working round the clock to prevent the outbreak of any infectious disease.

“We have maintained our system at alert, where we are at alert mode, rapid response team including the surveillance and notification officers have been trained where we emphasise the need for them to detect cases wherever they are,” he added.

“In terms of infection prevention and control, we want to ensure that if the infection happens, it does not spread, especially in the healthcare setting.”

He stated that on the risk communications, the health agency had produced jingles that would be aired on different stations for residents of the state to be sensitised.

The global resurgence of cholera

The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Friday announced a resurgence of cholera cases across countries in Africa, East Asia, America, Europe, and the Eastern Mediterranean region.

According to the organisation, about 195,00 cholera cases have been reported in the five regions between January and May, with the Eastern Mediterranean Region reporting the highest number of cases of more than 98,000 cases from seven countries.

Africa has the second-highest number of cases, with 92,789 cases from 14 countries. A distant margin from what was found in America, where about 3,700 cases from one country were recorded as the third highest from an affected region.

This data, WHO said, combines both suspected and confirmed cases of the disease.

In Nigeria, PREMIUM TIMES has consistently reported that the country has been experiencing a spike in the number of recorded cases.

According to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC), the country has recorded more than 65 confirmed cases with more than 30 deaths from January to June across about 100 local governments in 30 states.