Cholera kills five in Gwagwa district
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Aminiya
A cholera outbreak has killed at least five people in Gwagwa district, Abuja, while several other residents have been hospitalised. The outbreak spread within three days and is affecting children in particular, according to testimonies from residents and healthcare workers gathered by Aminiya.
Five people have died of cholera in Gwagwa district, in Abuja’s Federal Capital Territory, and several others are hospitalised, Usman Abdullahi, a resident of the district, told Aminiya on Thursday. He said the five victims were buried on Wednesday, including Ibrahim Danlami, a carpenter, and Abbati Gambo, an employee at the Jiwa court, a locality near Gwagwa.
Residents reported that the disease had spread within three days. Samson Okorafa, a father met at a health facility, said his three children had been infected almost simultaneously. His eldest daughter is hospitalised at Capital Clinic, his second child remains on the hospital premises because of a lack of beds, and the third is being treated at home by a nurse.
A nurse told Aminiya that most patients received were suffering from vomiting, diarrhoea and severe weakness. Residents attributed the outbreak to a lack of drinking water, saying they had been without running water for more than three months. Isiyaka Bello also mentioned power cuts that make it difficult to operate boreholes and said a 20-litre container of water sells for up to 300 naira.
The Abuja Federal Capital Territory Ministry of Health confirmed that it had received a report of the cholera outbreak in the district. Lawal Luqman Ademola, the ministry’s head of communicable disease control, said an investigation was under way to establish the situation and take measures to limit the spread of the disease.
