Cholera: Delta records 7 deaths – State govt

….Says disease fully under control

THE Delta State Government, Tuesday, confirmed that seven persons in the State have so far lost their lives to the outbreak of cholera in the country.

The State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Joseph Onojaeme, who confirmed this at Asaba while briefing newsmen on the update of cholera in Delta, said the State had so far, recorded three outbreaks of the disease.

“For the casualties, we have about seven casualties so far; that was in the first outbreak. The second and third, none; it is fully under control in the State” he said, disclosing that the male-to-female ratio of the casualties was 3:1.

Reiterating that maintaining hygiene was key to eliminating cholera, he said the disease is common among villages that are spread across water banks.

Onojaeme listed high-risk local government areas in the State including Warri South West, Warri North, Warri South, Ughelli North, Ughelli South, Patani, Bomadi and Burutu.

He said the State Ministry of Health had curtailed the disease in the the high-risk council areas, adding that the Disease Surveillance and Monitoring officers had the necessary equipment for diagnosis “and we are doing a lot of close monitoring of these patients. It is fully under control.”

Saying that the first outbreak started in mid-February, Onojaeme said: “The State has recorded about 138 cases in Warri South West which is the LGA it started and the third outbreak, we had 11 suspected cases in Bomadi and one in Oshimili South.

“We have been able to curtail the disease in Delta State. The Disease Surveillance and Monitoring officers have been able to do a lot of advocacy to the people, educate them about the cause of the disease. It is majorly a disease of poor sanitary environment. We have educated them about simple hand washing, and not taking unclean water.

“The Ministry of Health has provided tablets to purify some of these waters and so far so good, since about six weeks now, in Warri South West where it started from, we had only 20 suspected cases and the majority of the cases that we have noticed, we have treated and it is basically under control.

“The advocacy is a continuous process; the risk factors are poor sanitary condition and reduced stomach acid. It has an incubation period of 12 days, so within this 12 days, somebody that is not showing symptoms yet can spread it via faeces and urine to other persons staying with somebody with it.”