Cholera kills 75 as engineer coordinates response to outbreak in Buhari’s home state

As the total number of cholera cases rises to 1534 across 25 LGAs, no fewer than 75 people have died from the outbreak in Katsina.

President Muhammadu Buhari’s home state  has thus topped the FCT in mortality rate.

The state health commissioner who is an engineer, stated this August 10 in a press briefing.

Engineer Yakubu Danja confirmed that the state received the first report of suspected diarrhea and vomiting from the 5th May 2021 in Funtua Local Government Area.

As of August 8th 2021, a total of 1,534 cases including 75 deaths have been reported from 25 LGAs.

He said 67% are aged 15 years and above while 3 cases were reported for under 1, stating that of the reported cases, 53% are males.

He explained that a total of 140 samples have been collected so far with 43 RDT positive, 2 culture positive where Funtua LGA had the highest number of cases with 384, followed by Sabuwa with 232, Kafur 215, Charanchi 135, Kankara 71 and Jibia with 69 cases.

He said Funtua LGA also leads with 18 deaths, followed by Charanchi LGA 14, Jibia LGA 11, Kankara LGA 5 as well as Sabuwa and Rimi having four each.

Although, insecurity remains one of the major factor hindering access to some areas for active case search, a lot of response activities have been taking place since the emergence of the outbreak where medical supply kits and other consumables have been distributed to the affected LGAs, according to Danja.

He, therefore, called on the general public to take deliberate effort to improve on their personal and environmental hygiene.