No fewer than 61 persons have received medical attention for cholera in the last three weeks in Kisi, Irepo local government area of Oyo state.
According to the Nation Newspaper, while some of the patients have been discharged, others are still being hospitalised at the General Hospital, Kisi.
According to a source close to the development, while 55 persons have been treated and discharged, only six are currently on admission.
The source who said the first case was reported around August 28, explained that the government has put in a lot of measures to ensure that the situation is put under check.
The source, a medical expert who preferred not to be named also said the state is not happy about the outbreak because the disease is preventable but that people have not been taking the necessary precautions.
The source explained “we have heard of cases of people with symptoms relating to cholera and we are aware of it and we have taken immediate effect towards responding to it.
“As of today (yesterday, Monday) there are 61 cases recorded so far. Out of the figure, 55 patients have been discharged with only six still on admission.
“The first case was reported around 28 August and it was only coming in in trickles.
For about three weeks or thereabout now, we have been having cases but most of them are taken to the general hospital there and they are receiving treatment and usually within one or two days, they get well.
“But why we are concerned more is because we are not happy about any cholera case. We have had it in the past like this, around this rainy season when you have overflow of water sources which results in contamination and in this kind of situation, what is most important is what you as an individual will do. It a preventable disease but unfortunately people are still getting it.
“Get food and water from clean sources and if you are not certain about the source, you cook your food very well and if you are not too sure of your water source, you boil it very well.
“Simple things like not eating left over foods and covering your foods when you intend to eat it again, so there are measures that when you take them you are unlikely to get cholera and we have been educating the public in that communities through our health workers who are there.
“We have used the opportunity of routine healthcare system, people that come for antenatal clinic, child welfare clinic, we have been passing this information to people.
“The issue regarding rains are natural issues that are beyond human control but as individuals, if you are able to control what you take in, you will be able to prevent it.”
Speaking on some of the measures the government had put in place to prevent a likely outbreak in the affected communities, the source explained that “when this started, we noticed that because this rain can contaminate water sources, we have sent chlorine to the LGAs for the chlorination of the wells that are there, and that will reduce the chances of taking contaminated water.
“Also we sent some intravenous fluids to support case management if eventually someone gets infected and you are worried about poverty, we sent the fluids ahead to the LGAs and that is not to say we are resting, we are still mobilising more resources in that regards.
“We have a structure on ground to pick up cases quickly. We have the community informants in different locations. We have at least about 100 of the informants who feed us with information as regards anyone who has that kind of symptoms.
“We also have disease surveillance officers and surveillance focal persons in the various health facilities.”
Also, the source explained that there were also rumoured suspected cases in some parts of the state but that prompt mobilisation of personnel and resources confirmed the story otherwise.
“There were rumours of suspected case in Ido local government around early August, and we sent our disease surveillance officers there who visited Araromi, Apete, Bakatari and the environs. We did that intensely but we could not find a case.
“Our antennas are up and we are looking at our routine data for example, we are looking at the number of diarrhea cases per local government and we are asking questions from the local governments regarding their data.
“We must also mention that we have sort support and receiving feedback from NCDC, and WHO among other partners.”
