The two days old disease has four of its victims killed in Rukuba/Bassa and two in Jos metropolis. The case in Jos North involved a 61-year-old caterer who was said to have complained of stooling and vomiting, symptoms peculiar to cholera, was taken to the hospital and died on Wednesday morning.
The Deputy Director, Epidemiology in the state Ministry of Health and state epidemiologist, Dr. Raymond Juryit, who confirmed the incidents, the case in Jos metropolis involved a family.
According to him, a woman was sick of diarrhoea and was admitted in the hospital and she died the following day. In the course of preparing food for the funeral, some members of the family developed the same symptoms. We cannot conclude now that it is cholera because we have taken the samples and those with the symptoms have been admitted at Plateau Specialist Hospital. The samples were being analysed, but we cannot wait for the result before we start treating them. We are suspecting cholera and have put them on that routine, but the full confirmation will come with the results."
He said the case in Bassa was professionally handled and that accounts for the reduced number casualty recorded, adding that it would have been worse if the cases was not arrested. Juryit said one of the victims died in a chemist shop, while the others arrived the hospital very late.
“That of Rukuba in Bassa has been brought under control and there is no danger in that place now. I am happy the way it was handled because it was done professionally. If people report to hospital, this can be treated because it is a simple disease. It takes just replacing the fluids and electrolytes that the patient has lost in quick time and in the right quantities.”
He advised people to observe simple hygiene by washing their hands before eating and keeping their environments clean.
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