Kaduna State Government on Thursday said cholera has killed 132 persons from April to date across the 19 local government areas of the state.
The state’s Commissioner for Health, Dr Amina Mohammed Baloni, disclosed this at a news briefing while giving an update on the outbreak of the disease and other epidemics in the state.
According to her, 1,665 cases were recorded, out of which 842 have been treated and discharged from hospitals.
She said a rapid response team has visited the affected local government areas.
“From April to date, we have had 1,665 cases across 19 LGAs, some of the LGAs do not have active cases now. Right now, we have active cases in seven LGAs and so far, we have treated 842 and discharged them. We only have 14 active cases right now under treatment. We have recorded 132 fatalities,” she said.
She said a lot of the cases happened without informing the ministry.
The ministry, she said, has now set up a surveillance team in the LGAs searching for cases.
The commissioner attributed the cases to poor sanitation and lack of water supply, among others.
She said the state’s Rural Water and Sanitation Agency (RUWASA) had mapped out over 10,000 wells across the LGAs that are potential sources of contamination.
Dr Baloni said some of the wells have been treated to reduce the risk of cholera, and that water chlorine has also been distributed across the affected LGAs.