3 months ago
27 ARTICLE AD
The Edo State Government, on Wednesday said it has recorded eight suspected cases of cholera in the state.
The government said 16 cases were reported last week but it urged the people not to panic, saying it was on top of the situation with support from the World Health Organisation staff in the state.
It said all those affected were under close monitoring including all those they have come in contact with.
Besides, it said 226 cases of Lassa fever out of over 2,300 suspected ones have been recorded and that out of the 226, 36 deaths were recorded so far this year.
Speaking to journalists in Benin City, the Director Public Health, Ministry of Health, Dr Ojeifo Stephenson, flanked by officials of the WHO led by its State Coordinator, Dr. Eyo Nora, said the state government was prepared for any emergency.
He said, “Nobody should panic, the state is doing everything to address the situation of any disease outbreak. If you want to talk of any state that is prepared to respond to emergency, Edo State is one.
“On Thursday last week, we were alerted that there are some patients with cholera on admission at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, we quickly mobilised our men in collaboration with the WHO team to go and investigate, see the condition of the patients and know what exactly to do.
“Sixteen patients were admitted at the UBTH. We ran Rapid Diagnostic Test for all of them. RDT is not a confirmatory test, however, while eight were not reactive the other eight were positive to it.
“Then we collected sample from those eight that were reactive to the rapid diagnosis test, and that sample was sent to the National Reference Lab in Abuja for confirmatory test, until that result is out, we can’t say that we have any positive cholera case in Edo state.
“The good news is that from Thursday till now, all the patients have been discharged in UBTH except one still in the ward.”
He further explained that the surveillance system has been activated for contact tracing and line listing. We have identified all those that the patients have had contact with and also carried out community enlightenment to know what they took before the incidents.
“We are happy about that but we urge the public to continue to maintain hygiene and clean environment but once you have a suspected case go to the hospital immediately,” he added.
For Lassa fever, he said, the state government was mobilising to eradicate the causative agent to ensure Edo State is Lassa fever free.
