The 38 cholera patients in Shege ward in Toto Local Government Area of Nasarawa State have been cured after receiving rapid treatment.
Chairman of the Nasarawa Rapid Response Task Force, Dr Ibrahim Adamu, confirmed this to Channels Television on Thursday in Lafia, the state capital.
“Since the advent of the outbreak, the State Response Team has mobilised men and resources, drugs, IV fluids, and other medical commodities to Shege ward,” he said on behalf of the state government.
“We have arrested the outbreak as it were in that community because all the 38 patients that we saw suffering from cholera have been cured and they have gone back home.”
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Dr Adamu said the State Ministry of Health has taken further prompt measures to avert the disease and blamed the recent outbreak on unhygienic water.
He added that the response team has also embarked on sensitisation campaigns to enlighten the people on the steps to take to prevent a reoccurrence of the incident.
He said: “We didn’t stop at that; we also went into the community to have a sensitisation talk with the residents. We had them assembled at the Emir’s palace and explained to them what cholera is and how they can prevent themselves from further infections.
“We have also gone to the water body to see the kind of water they use and we told them that they need to stop using it for cooking and drinking because it is a very unhygienic source of water.
“So we advised that they use the boreholes they have for now and if they have to use the water from their pond, it has to be boiled and filtered. We took along water guard (chloride powder) to disinfect the water,” the government official said.
According to him, the state government has prepared radio and television jingles with well-crafted UNICEF messages to tackle cholera and is already airing in local stations.
He said some of the messages passed to the people include hand washing, safe disposal of faeces, and the need for households to create toilet facilities in their homes.
“That is one of the things we found out in Shege that most of their households don’t have toilet facilities,” he added.
