Ebonyi govt dismisses report on cholera outbreak

The Ebonyi State government on Friday dismissed the report on the outbreak of cholera in the state.

A report had said during the week that nine people died and several others hospitalized in the cholera outbreak at Ndiegu Amagu, Ikwo local government area of the state.

The state’s Commissioner of Health, Dr. Daniel Umezurike, who addressed journalists in Abakaliki after an assessment visit to the area, said when the outbreak was first reported early this month, officials of the ministry, World Health Organisation (WHO), and other relevant agencies visited the place.

He said: “We carried out rapid diagnostic tests and all tested samples turned negative.

“We also forwarded collected samples to the reference laboratory in Abuja and the microscopies all showed negative.

“When the fresh report surfaced, we visited the area with the objectives of confirming the rumour, attending to the sick people among them, collecting and testing samples, and sensitising the people on the disease.

READ ALSO: 59 die as cholera outbreak hits Nasarawa

“We saw the four persons suspected to be suffering from the disease and after thorough medical analysis, did not discover any trace of the disease.

“One said that she defecated in the morning of November 26 but has not defecated again since then and that it was not watery.

“The other persons were admitted in a nearby health facility with one of them showing pregnancy symptoms.

“Another one said that he had been on admission in the facility since November 24 while the other had been discharged.”

“When there is panic over reports of an outbreak, people can attribute the cause of any death to cholera or any of such diseases.”

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