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Kasarawa community ravaged by gastroenteritis, 22 feared dead

Another survivor, Alhaji Isa Kasarawa, 65, recalled that he was on his farm one fatefulday when all of a sudden he started experiencing stomach ache…

Another survivor, Alhaji Isa Kasarawa, 65, recalled that he was on his farm one fatefulday when all of a sudden he started experiencing stomach ache and began passing watery stool frequently. But he initially thought it was the vegetable diet he had taken prior to the attack.
“I was rushed to the village clinic where I was diagnosed with gastroenteritis. Drip was administered on me, I was also given some drugs and injections,” he recollected. Isa survived the attack after over two weeks, describing the experience as horrific.
It was a similar experience for 40-year-old Musa Bello, who recounted pains he had to endure for the five days he was down with the illness. “Initially, I started feeling dizzy and nausea and sweating profusely and I was immediately rushed to the clinic,” he recalled.
Last week, the state ministry of health officials confirmed 40 patients were admitted at the hospital in the area as a result of the outbreak and were treated.
However, while the villagers claimed deaths were recorded in Kasarawa, officials said there were no casualtiesat the health facility.
According to the village scribe, Malami Abubakar Magaji, 22 people died in the preceding weeks following the outbreak of gastroenteritis in the area.But it is feared that the disease which was thought to have been dealt with, may have resurfaced with a number of new infections.
With 50-year-old Safiya in the same compound, is a fresh case suspected to be gastroenteritis, involving a 35-year-old woman, Hauwa Isa, who was found writhing in pain as she was being administered intravenous fluid in her room.
Some of the villagers told Weekly Trust that the outbreak was first noticed weeks back in two hamlets near kasarawa- Tudu and Adarawa – where at its peak, the communities suffered untold hardship.“It was alarming that we recorded 7-8 deaths in a single day and it is spreading to other nearby communities such as this fresh case in Kasarawa,” Mallam  Garba  stated.
A visit to the Kasarawa clinic last Wednesday revealed a situation of anguish where patients suspected to be afflicted by gastroenteritis were rushed in by relations at minutes’ interval. Six-year-old Abdurahman Muhammad was one of those on admission at the clinic.
Weekly Trust gathered at the clinic that they received an average of 15-25 patients a day all with vomiting and diarrhoea cases. They said the staff are overstretched due to the influx of patients.
“Women, children and adults are all coming from different areas of Kasarawa village with the same symptoms and signs as they all vomit and pass watery stool,” one healthworker told our correspondent.
The initial intervention from the state, local government council as well as donations from individuals and organisations, such as Medicines Sans Frontiers, were said to have been exhausted due to high demand.Some patients said they get the prescription from the clinic and go back home to buy drugs from the open market.
The ministry of health permanent secretary, Dr. Buhari Bello Kware, said as at the time health officials last visited the area on Monday, they did not meet any admitted or out-patient at  the clinic and that  the place was deserted.
He blamed any delayed response on lack of communication from the local to the state level as according to him there is an established channel of ensuring such developments were reported to the appropriate authorities.
The permanent secretary said the state government intervenes where the local government cannot cope: “We fill in gaps where they are created.”
Bello recalled that when the outbreak was first reported, the state government dispatched a team of medical personnel to the area and provided all the necessary medications and everything was brought under control.
He however, said the state government has enough stock of drugs to address any new development, adding that: “We are duty bound to do what is expected of us.”
A health practitioner from the area, Rilwanu Garba, attributed the outbreak to the consumption of contaminated food and filthy environment.He harped on the need for people to imbibe the culture of hygiene and ensure clean environment at all times and especially during the rainy season.

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