No cholera outbreak in Borno – Health Commissioner

The Borno State government has said that no case of Cholera outbreak has been recorded in the state.

Mr. Haruna Mshelia, the Commissioner for Health in the Borno State disclosed that all measures have been put in place to ensure there was no outbreak of the disease.

He stated this while addressing a press conference on the cholera epidemic in the state.

According to Punch, Mshelia, who assured that there have not been any clinically confirmed cholera outbreak in the year 2018, though, the state experienced a chronic outbreak of the disease that led to the death of 61 persons.

He stated, however that the state have experienced 1068 cases of Acute Watery Diarrhoea recorded in ten local government areas of the state since the commencement of the rainy season in May till date, the situation has not degenerated to cholera.

“Around this time every year, we have cases of acute watery diarrhoea, caused by bacteria passed through faeces, it is common in the rural areas, due to open defecation.” he commissioner said.

He asserted that AWD could be caused by food poisoning, drinking unhygienic water (without boiling).

He added that “We prepare every time for this, we train officials for rapid response, there is rapid response team. We have them at the local government level and at the state level; those at the state are more technically competent.”