By Asmau Ahmad
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has announced a total of 10,745 suspected cases of cholera, including 256 deaths, so far in 2022.
The NCDC disclosed this in its Cholera Situation weekly epidemiological report for week 39 posted on its official website, on Tuesday.
The report revealed that 31 states have reported suspected cholera cases in 2022.
The states are Abia, Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Benue, Borno, Cross River, Delta, Ekiti, Gombe, Imo, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Kwara, Lagos, Nasarawa, Niger, Ondo, Osun, Oyo, Plateau, Rivers, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe and Zamfara.
Cholera is an acute diarrhoeal disease caused by Vibrio cholerae, a gramme-negative rod-shaped bacterium.
In Nigeria, cholera is an endemic and seasonal disease, occurring annually mostly during the rainy season and more often in areas with poor sanitation.
In the reporting month, nine states reported 4,153 suspected cases – Borno (2626), Yobe (718), Gombe (317), Zamfara (212), Bauchi (119), Jigawa (95), Sokoto (47), Katsina (16) and Adamawa (3).
“There was a 42 per cent increase in the number of new suspected cases in September Epi week 36 – 39 (4153) compared with August Epi week 31 – 35 (2428).
“In the reporting week, Borno (883), Gombe (97), Bauchi (15) Yobe (8) and Sokoto (3) reported 1006 suspected cases. Borno and Gombe states account for 97% of 1006 suspected cases reported in week 39.
“During the reporting week, No Cholera Rapid Diagnostic Test was conducted.
“No stool culture test was conducted from all states reporting in epi week 39.
“Of the cases reported, there were 19 deaths with a weekly case fatality ratio (CFR) of 1.9 per cent.
“No new state reported cases in week 39. National multi-sectoral Cholera TWG continues to monitor response across the state,” it noted.
The cumulative epidemiology summary showed that “As of October 2, 2022, a total of 10,745 suspected cases including 256 deaths (CFR 2.4 per cent) have been reported from 31 states in 2022.
“Of the suspected cases since the beginning of the year, the age group 5 -14 years is the most affected age group for males and females. Of all suspected cases, 48 per cent are males and 52 per cent are females.
“Eleven states – Borno (3663 cases), Yobe (1632 cases), Katsina (767 cases), Taraba (675 cases), Cross River (649 cases), Gombe (470 cases), Jigawa (417 cases) and Bauchi (304 cases) account for 86 per cent of all cumulative cases.
“Fifteen LGAs across six states Yobe (4), Borno (4), Taraba (3), Cross River (2), Gombe (1) and Zamfara (1), reported more than 100 cases each this year,” the report read in part.
