The Borno State Ministry of Health has declared a cholera outbreak in the state after some samples being sent to the ministry returned positive.
The commissioner for Health and Human Services, Prof Baba Gana declared the outbreak at the eye center in Maiduguri. He said that out of the 200 samples sent for testing, 17 were positive.
According to him, the recent flooding in the state is to be blamed for the outbreak.
The affected areas include: Jere, Mafa, Konduga, Dikwa and MMC local government areas.
Although no death has been recorded, the commissioner said there are increasing cases of Cholera in many LGAs, especially when neighbouring states of Adamawa and Yobe have been affected by the outbreak.
He said out of the suspected 451 cases which were reported from the various LGAs, only 17 were confirmed positive.
The state government has therefore declared immediate response to control the outbreak, as partners and humanitarian agencies like the World Health Organization (WHO) and Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) have put in place facilities to handle suspected cases and about 400, 000 vaccines have been made available.
