Nigeria has recorded 170 suspected cases and three deaths from cholera in three states of the federation in week 29, from July 15 to 21.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) made this known in the recent situation report posted on its website on Wednesday, stating that the affected states are Lagos, Kogi and Zamfara.
According to the report, the number of deaths represents a case fatality rate (FFR) of 1.8 percent, lower than the previous week (2.9 percent).
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In total, Nigeria has recorded 4,809 suspected cases of cholera and 156 deaths in 35 states since the start of the outbreak this year. The figure indicates an increase in the number of cases recorded in the same period in 2023 (2,740).
Likewise, the number of deaths in 2024 (156), which represents a CRF of 3.2 percent, shows an increase compared to that recorded for the same period in 2023 (83) which represented 3.0 percent.
Response activities
Cholera is a waterborne disease caused by the ingestion of Vibrio cholerae, usually through contaminated water and food.
Water is often contaminated by the feces of infected people, which can occur at the source, during transport, or during storage at home.
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In addition, food can be contaminated through dirty hands during preparation or consumption, leading to the spread of disease.
Symptoms of cholera include acute, profuse, painless, watery diarrhea.
The NCDC noted that as part of its response activities, it had distributed medical supplies for case management, infection prevention and control to all medical facilities in the country.
He further said that it has provided local and remote support to states such as Lagos and Ogun and has been following up on daily reports and progress of response activities.
The agency also ensured ongoing training at subnational level for laboratory scientists on sample collection and analysis, as well as training of community mobilizers on key cholera messages.
Distribution of jingles, flyers and posters with key messages on cholera prevention to all states and the Federal Capital Territory.