Cholera Disease Claimed 12 Lives In Ogun State

The state government of Ogun State has confirmed that No fewer than 12 persons have died due to a cholera outbreak in the state.

The Ogun State Ministry of Health watned of the outbreak of cholera in Ijebu North Local Government Area of the State on September 17.

According to Dr Tomi Coker,the commissioner for health, the disease has since spread to Abeokuta North and Abeokuta South Local Governments, with 217 cases recorded in Ijebu North only.

She has now confirmed that 12 deaths have been recorded out of the 246 cases recorded so far.

She, Coker gave an update on the disease after an engagement with stakeholders at the ministry in Abeokuta.

“Unfortunately, we have a report of 246 cases, and there has been at least about 12 deaths, which brings us to a fatality rate of 44.6 per cent.

“This is slightly high for a state like ours because we are educated. And from what we found out that’s actually promoting the cholera outbreak is the fact that there’s high level of open defecation in Ogun State,” Coker said.

She gave thoroughly warned the residents to refrain from open defecation and put in practice proper hygiene to prevent the disease.

She said water sources had been contaminated by faecal materials due to open defecation.

She said the government had started taking measures to prevent this harmful and deadly disease by chlorinating wells in Ijebu North to restore normalcy.