Horror as 10,000 infected in major illness outbreak | World | News
More than 10,000 people were infected with cholera during a major outbreak of the disease in Nigeria. The cases focus on the conflict-hit Borno state in the country’s northeast. Cholera is an infection that can cause severe diarrhea and is found mostly in parts of Africa and Asia that lack clean water supplies.
The disease is endemic and seasonal in Nigeria, where only 14% of its more than 200 million population has access to safely managed drinking water supply services, according to 2020 government data. The situation is sometimes exacerbated in Borno, both in the densely populated state capital Maiduguri and in remote communities where sanitation and hygiene conditions are poor, in part due to being far from the immediate reach of health authorities. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said at least 46 people had died from infection in its medical facilities since the outbreak began in early May.
Working with state health authorities, the medical charity set up a treatment center in Maiduguri as clinics struggled to cope with the surge in cases.
Stuart Alexander Zimble, Head of MSF’s Nigeria Country Office, said: Telegram: “When we opened our cholera treatment center, it had 120 beds. Now we are around 251 beds… in some provinces. [treatment centres]”There is even overcrowding.”
He added: “In the last few days [been] “There is a stability in the numbers… but this is still something we are worried about.”
Mr Zimble said Nigeria’s health ministry had requested more than three million oral cholera vaccine doses.
Earlier this month, MSF reported that 74 people had died since the start of the cholera outbreak.
Communities in Borno face fragile health systems following nearly two decades of violent extremism by the Boko Haram rebel group.
Cholera can be contracted from drinking water or consuming food contaminated with the cholera bacteria Vibrio cholerae.
The disease can be life-threatening without treatment, which involves replacing lost fluids, including rehydration solutions or, in more severe cases, fluids given intravenously in hospital.
The World Health Organization says cholera can be fatal within a few hours if left untreated.
The illness, which is almost always waterborne, can cause symptoms such as copious watery diarrhea, feeling or being sick, stomach pain, and dehydration.
It can spread rapidly in areas where sewage and drinking water are not adequately treated, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
