Cholera outbreak kills seven in Enugu, 19 others stooling, vomiting

Cholera outbreak has claimed the lives of seven persons as at the weekend in Enugu State. Cholera outbreak at New Artisan Livestock Market, Enugu, Enugu State, was said to have killed about seven persons, while 19 others were said to have been diagnosed with symptoms of loose stool and vomiting in the market.

The Enugu State Commissioner for Health, Emmanuel Ikechukwu Obi, confirming the cholera outbreak in a statement on Friday, noted that the Ministry’s rapid response team went into immediate action after receiving the report. According to the commissioner, “the Ministry’s rapid response team, upon receiving reports of the incident, carried out an immediate investigation, and “it was observed that the patients presented with sudden onset of the passage of loose stool and vomiting.”

Ikechukwu Obi disclosed that, “the ill persons identified within the area were immediately and safely evacuated to the state teaching hospital and are receiving treatment, while health education on safe and hygienic practices was given to the inhabitants of the market.”

The Commissioner affirmed that, “further tests carried out by the State Ministry of Health at the Teaching Hospital revealed that all the persons were suffering from Cholera.”

Samples were said to be collected for further confirmatory tests on the finding.

The Enugu State Ministry of Health Emergency Operations Centre for Cholera outbreak response was revived on Saturday, 17th July 2021 to contain the spread of the infectious disease. Surveillance, contact tracing, and risk assessment were indicated to have commenced at the market and its environs, immediately.

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) had identified cholera as an acute diarrheal disease that is a potentially life-threatening and primarily waterborne disease.

There were indications of panic that the government should not align the cholera outbreak, which many identified as dangerous enough on its own, with the coronavirus infection as propaganda of third wave spreads strongly in Nigeria.