Agency The cholera outbreak in Nigeria has seen a sharp increase in 2024, with suspected cases rising by an alarming 220 per cent, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control has said. The NCDC disclosed this on its latest epidemiological report published on its official website on Sunday. Cholera is an acute intestinal infection spread through contaminated food and water.
Communities with limited access to sanitation are most affected. Conflict, climate change, inadequate safe water and sanitation, poverty, underdevelopment, and population displacement due to emerging and re-emerging conflicts and disasters from natural hazards all contribute to the rise in cholera outbreaks. The health agency according to the News Agency of Nigeria said that by the end of epidemiological week 39, the country had recorded 10,837 suspected cases and 359 deaths.
It said that the figure represented 239 per cent increase in fatalities compared to 2023. It said that the Case Fatality Rate (CFR) for the year stood at 3.3 per cent, slightly higher than the 3.
1 per cent recorded in the previous year. “In the past week alone, 198 new suspected cases were reported across five states, leading to 15 deaths and a weekly CFR of 7.6 per cent.
“The states most affected by the outbreak during week 39 include Adamawa (131 cases), Ebonyi (30 cases), Borno (29 cases), Kano (7 cases), and Jigawa (1 case). “Adamawa continues to be a hotspot, with 535 suspected cases reported in the past month,” it said. The ag.