Cholera kills three children in Benue, others hospitalised

An outbreak of Cholera disease has claimed the lives of three children at Abinsi community in Guma Local Government Area, LGA, of Benue state.

An outbreak of the disease has also been reported at Obagaji in Agatu LGA where several persons have come down with the disease through no fatality has been recorded so far in the area. Vanguard gathered that about 30 persons had been treated for the ailment in Abinsi while six others are currently on admission at the Primary Healthcare Centre in the community.

Confirming the outbreak and deaths yesterday in Makurdi, the Commissioner for Health and Human Services, Dr. Joseph Ngbea said the outbreak was dictated three days ago by his Ministry. He explained that “on receipt of information of a suspected outbreak, the Ministry dispatched a medical team led by the Director of Public Health, Dr. Terna Kur and an Incident Manager, Emergency Operation Centre, Dr. Terungwa Ngishie who went in and confirmed the outbreak after diagnosis.”

The Commissioner stated that Governor Samuel Ortom through the Ministry had released N3.1million for an emergency response to the outbreak at Obagaji and Abinsi. He said the Ministry was working round the clock to contain the outbreak and advised the people to maintain personal hygiene, get their drinking water from clean sources as well as purify their water before drinking to check the further outbreak of the disease in the state. Vanguard