How we are taming cholera outbreak – KNSG

Following the outbreak of cholera in Kano, which ravaged several local government areas in early March, the state government seems to be turning the tide against the highly infectious disease.

Cholera is an infectious disease that causes severe watery diarrhoea, which can lead to dehydration and even death if left untreated. It is caused by eating food or drinking water contaminated with a bacterium called Vibrio cholerae.

The state epidemiologist, Dr Basheer Lawan, told Kano Chronicle that like every other outbreak, the government was addressing the current outbreak through the Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) of Abdullahi Wase Specialist Hospital in the state metropolis.

He also said the EOC tried to identify the root cause of the outbreak, adding that the state’s rural water supply agency had been mandated to provide boreholes in any location where water was discovered as the cause of the outbreak.

The state epidemiologist added that the state government was proactive with a budgetary allocation of over 17 per cent to health out of which the emergency response had been provided for and money disbursed to the drug and medical consumable supply agency.

It was gathered that as at the end of June there were still 165 active cases in seven local government areas out of the initial 32 LGAs which recorded the outbreak, and that the government had deployed all its resources to curtail the outbreak.

The outbreak, which started with just one local government area in the state on March 5, later spread to 31 others with a total of 3,570 cases recorded within the period out of which 3,272 had been discharged with 145 fatalities.