NCDC Decries Poor, Inconsistent Report Of Cholera Cases

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) has blamed poor and inconsistent reporting of cholera cases from states as one of the major challenges to the country’s response to the cholera outbreak.

The NCDC said this in its latest weekly Cholera situation report for weeks 44–47 on Tuesday via its official website.

Cholera is a highly contagious disease that occurs in environments without clean water and proper sanitation, which can lead to death if not properly treated.

The NCDC identified factors responsible for the surge in the disease to include difficulty in accessing some communities due to security concerns, open defecation and poor hygiene practices in many communities.

According to the agency, other factors include; inadequate health facility infrastructure, medication for the management of patients and inadequately trained personnel in states for case management posed a challenge.

The NCDC said that a total of 583 deaths have been recorded due to cholera, while 23,550 people were suspected to have been infected with the disease between January and November 27, 2022.

According to the centre, suspected cases of cholera had been reported across 270 local government areas in the 32 states and the FCT.

The NCDC also said that of the suspected cases since the beginning of the year, the age group 5–14 years is the most affected; 49 per cent are males and 51 per cent are females.

“32 states and the FCT have reported suspected cholera cases in 2022. These are Abia, Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Benue, Borno, Cross River, Delta, and Ekiti

"Others are FCT, Gombe, Imo, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Lagos, Nasarawa, Niger, Ondo, Osun, Oyo, Plateau, Rivers, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe, and Zamfara.

“In the reporting month, six states reported 1,393 suspected cases: Borno (1,124), Gombe (165), Bauchi (61), Katsina (16), Adamawa (14), and Kano (13).

“There was a 78 per cent decrease in the number of new suspected cases in November Epi weeks 44–47 (1393) compared with October Epi weeks 40–43 (6306).

“In the reporting week, Borno (24), Gombe (14), Bauchi (13), Kano (5), Katsina (1), and Adamawa (1), reported 58 suspected cases.

“Borno, Gombe, and Bauchi states account for 88% of the 58 suspected cases reported in week 47.

“During the reporting week, two Cholera Rapid Diagnostic tests were conducted in Gombe 2 (100% positive).

“Two stool culture tests were conducted from Gombe, 1(100 per cent positive) and Bauchi 1(0 per cent positive) in week 47.

“Of the cases reported, there were two deaths with a weekly case fatality ratio (CFR) of 3.4 per cent,” it said.

The Public Health Agency said that there were no new state-reported cases in week 47.

It, however, said that the National Multi-Sectoral Cholera Technical Working Group continues to monitor response across states.

It added that six states—Borno (1,2459 cases), Yobe (1,888 cases), Katsina (1,632 cases), Gombe (1,407 cases), Taraba (1,142 cases), and Kano (1,131 cases) —account for 84 per cent of all cumulative cases and 15 LGAs across five states Borno (7), Yobe (4), Taraba (2), Gombe (1), and Zamfara (1)—reported more than 200 cases each this year.