Edo declares cholera outbreak, confirms 6 cases

The Edo State Ministry of Health on Thursday declared a cholera outbreak in the state, confirming  six cases of the disease so far.

Dr Stephenson Ojeifo, Director, Public Health in the ministry, announced this during a news conference in Benin.

Ojeifo said that the six confirmed cases were identified among the 40 suspected cholera cases recorded to date in the state.

“We sent  23  suspected samples that tested positive to the Rapid Diagnostic Test (RDT) to the National Reference Laboratory in Abuja for confirmatory test.

“We also have three suspected samples that tested negative to RDT but with obvious clinical signs and symptoms.

“The total number of samples sent to the national reference laboratory for confirmatory testing are 26.

“As of Tuesday this week, we received 15 results out of which six were confirmed positive to cholera and we are still expecting some outstanding results,” he said.

He noted that while the results were expected, the patients were managed inline with the cholera protocol management procedure.

“The patients are well and have been discharged and luckily we have not had any person in the community that have come down with symptoms of cholera,” he said.

He also said that three of the confirmed cases of the disease were from Egor, two from Uhunmwonde while one was from Ikpoba Okha Local Government Area.

He noted that more actions had been taken to ensure that the outbreak was adequately addressed.

“We are activating all pillars to swing into actions to help in addressing the outbreak we have in our hands.

“The state, in collaboration with the Edo Primary Health Care Development Agency, have selected some Primary Health Centres (PHCs) at the grassroots to manage suspected cholera cases.

“The University of Benin Teaching Hospital; Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital, Irrua; Edo State University Teaching Hospital,  Auchi; and the Central Hospital, Benin City, have been mapped as the referral centre point for management of severe suspected cholera cases.

“But we now have selected PHCs at the different local government areas with doctors and nurses to adequately manage these cases,” Ojeifo said.

He advised against self medication urging persons suffering from watery stool and diarrhoea to visit the hospital for treatment.

He also urged the public to stay calm, practise good hygiene and sanitation as well as promptly report suspected Cholera cases to relevant authorities.

The Cross River Government has confirmed one case of Mpox in  Okoshe community in Obudu Local Government Area.

The confirmation is coming a few days after the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, (NCDC) reported a case in the state.

The Mpox case was initially denied by the State  Commissioner for Health, Dr Henry Ayuk.

However, Ayuk, while addressing newsmen in Calabar on Sunday, said that the National Reference Laboratory in Abuja confirmed the presence of Mpox in one patient in Obudu.

He explained that the Ministry of Health was alerted to a possible case of Mpox or chickenpox on Aug.19 by an Ebonyi Epidemiologist.

“The patient, a female resident of Okoshe village in Obudu, sought medical care at the Federal Medical Centre in Abakaliki.

“Her test sample was sent to the National Reference Laboratory, and the result, which returned on Saturday, Aug. 24, confirmed Mpox and ruled out chickenpox,” Ayuk said.

The commissioner said that the state government was working to prevent a possible outbreak in the area.

“While we are still investigating the patient’s travel history, the state government is taking immediate action to contain any possible spread in Obudu,” he assured.

The commissioner said the ministry had ordered for immediate activation of the Mpox Emergency Operation Center to strengthen the response.

He said Dr Ekpo Ekpo, Special Adviser to Gov. Bassey Otu on Health, has been appointed as Incident Manager.

He also directed the Obudu LGA response team to collaborate with the state health team to mitigate efforts immediately.

The News Agency of Nigeria, (NAN), reports that the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) in Cross River appealed to the state government to enhance surveillance measures, citing the state’s vulnerability to such outbreak.

Dr Aisha Mohammed of the Paediatric Department, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Teaching Hospital (ATBUTH), said research has shown that 14 per cent of ear problems in infants are as a result of bottle feeding.

The paediatrician made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Bauchi on Thursday, adding that ear infection could affect the inner and outer parts of the organ.

She said that bottle feeding could also cause dental caries in children, explaining that dental caries, often called cavities, are erosions of the surface of the tooth, caused by combined effects of bacteria, acids, plaque and tartar.

Mohammed said dental caries are common in both children and adults and occur most often as a result of poor dental hygiene.

The expert advocated spoon and cup feeding of babies after introducing complementary foods.

She added that “the use of cup and spoon method should be adopted to mitigate ear problems and dental caries in babies.

“This is because the use of feeding bottles can affect the outer and inner ear of the baby due to either dripping from the bottle or forced feeding.”

The paediatrician, who kicked against forced feeding of babies as practised in some communities, said it can cause aspiration pneumonia, the inhalational acute lung injury that occurs after aspiration of sterile gastric contents.

She, therefore, advised mothers to adopt best practices in breast and complementary feedings to avoid choking in babies, noting that “choking can also result in aspiration pneumonia (stubborn pneumonia).

She also advised mothers to observe babies’ eating behaviours so as to know the likely meals to be adopted during complementary feeding.

(NAN)