Cholera: C'River Rejects Inclusion Among Affected States

 Cross River Government has faulted the inclusion of the State by the National Center for Disease Control (NCDC) as one of the 10 States affected by cholera outbreak 
in the country.

Dr Henry Ayuk,  Commissioner for Health faulted the State's inclusion in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Calabar on Wednesday.

He said there have been no reported case of the disease in Cross River since the last incident on January 29 this year.

The Commissioner alledged that the NCDC relied on old data to list  the State among the States affected by the outbreak in the country.

According to him, "I don't know where they got their information from, but I can tell you that there is no case of cholera here since the last one we had in January where one life was lost.

"I repeat again, there is no confirmation of any case of cholera in Cross River."

The Commissioner, however, assured that a response team was already in place should there be an outbreak in the State.

"As part of our preparedness, we have reactivated our public health emergency response team at the state and local government level to respond and react immediately.

"We are increasing surveillance activity in the state and also educating communities on the need to report any case of diarrhea.

"We are particularly focus on the riverine areas which we have designated "hot spot" such as Etung, Abi, Obubra, Biase and part of Yakurr local government areas," he said.

It would be recalled that the Director-General of the NCDC, Dr. Jide Idris, had on Tuesday listed 10 States, including Cross River as those  affected by cholera outbreak.

The states  include Lagos, Bayelsa, Zamfara, Abia, Cross River, Bauchi, Delta, Katsina, Imo, and Nasarawa.

He went further to say that a total of 2,102 suspected cholera cases and 63 deaths have been recorded across 33 states and 122 local government areas in the country.

NAN