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Cholera Death Toll in Nigeria Climbs to 149

by VR Sreeraman on Oct 18 2009 1:08 PM

The toll in a cholera outbreak in northern Nigeria rose to 149 Friday with 52 more deaths, a provincial health official said.

"We have recorded 52 deaths from cholera outbreak in four local government areas of the state while 1,335 have been hospitalised," the director of disease control in Borno State, Abdallah Sadiq, told AFP.

"The disease was first reported on September 10 in Gwoza local government on the border with Cameroon from where it spread to six other districts", he said.

He said Biu local government on the border with Chad was the worst affected area where 650 were infected, forcing health officials to open a camp for the victims.

Cholera has claimed 77 lives in recent weeks in Adamawa State, leaving nearly 1,000 people hospitalised.

Late September, officials in Jigawa State announced the death of 11 people in a cholera outbreak which affected 400 others at a village outside the state capital.

In Taraba state, neighbouring Adamawa, another cholera outbreak killed nine people and infected 120 others.

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Cholera is a water-borne disease and can also be transmitted by food that has been in contact with sewage.

It causes serious diarrhoea and vomiting leading to dehydration. With a short incubation period, it can be fatal if not treated in time.

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Source-AFP
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