Cholera Outbreak: States Surrounding Ogun State Placed On Red Alert...

Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu

Lagos, Ondo, Osun and Oyo States, which share borders with Ogun State have been placed on red alert by the Federal Government over the recent cholera outbreak in Ogun State.

In a statement signed by the Chief Consultant Epidemiologist, Federal Ministry of Health, Dr. Akin Oyemakinde, yesterday noted that the Federal Government has placed the adjoining states on red alert.

The warning was also directed at other states and the entire citizenry “on the need for concerted efforts at preventing the spread of the disease.”

The Federal Government also confirmed a total of 144 cases with five deaths in the recent outbreak in Ogun State “giving a case fatality rate of 3.55 per cent.”

The statement noted the Federal Government had provided essential medicines for the treatment of the victims of the disease in the state.

The release reads in part: “The outbreak of the cholera disease was reported in four local government areas of Ogun State: Abeokuta South, Abeokuta North, Obafemi Owode and Odeda on July 8, 2013.

“On receiving the report, the Federal Ministry of Health swiftly dispatched same day, an eight-member team, comprising doctors, consultant epidemiologist, laboratory scientist and environmental health officers to contain the situation.

“The team donated essential medicines for the treatment of the disease to the Ogun State government which include Amoxycillin, Zinc sulphate, Paracetamol, Ciprofloxacin and Albendazole as well as supplementary interagency emergency health kits containing Oral Rehydration Therapy, ORT, ringers lactate and cups.”

The statement further said that the outbreak was due to Cholera Vibrio, a micro organism transmitted through contaminated food and water sources in conditions of poor personal hygiene and environmental sanitation. Symptoms of the disease, the statement said, include passage of frequent watery stool and vomiting, adding that an affected person usually feels weak and dehydrated.

Findings, the release stressed, attributed lack of latrine in 90 percent of households visited by the team, resulting in open air defecation, poor refuse disposal system and unsanitary wells as water sources.

“To this end, the citizenry have been advised to always boil water before drinking, proper hand washing after a visit to the toilet and before food preparation and above all adopt good hygiene practices,” the release urged. 

culled from *National Mirror*