The Oyo State Government has issued a call for more vigilance and the adoption of precautionary measures to prevent the spread of a potential cholera outbreak in the State.
Oluwaserimi Ajetunmobi, the Commissioner for Health, said on Saturday that two people suspected to have been infected with cholera were receiving treatment in a private hospital in Ibadan.
The commissioner who visited the private hospital described the two suspected cases in Ibadan, which had been tracked down to a private facility in the state as male workers at a construction site in Lekki Peninsula from Lagos State
Ajetunmobi, a medical doctor, noted that Cholera is a bacterial infection spread by eating or drinking food or water contaminated by the faeces (poop) of an infected person.
Cholera, she explained, is highly infectious and can cause severe acute watery diarrhoea with severe dehydration , adding that It may be associated with nausea, profuse vomiting, and fever.
While saying that there is no cause for alarm as the Ministry and other partners are on top of the situation, reiterated the response efforts of the State Government through the Ministry at ensuring that the State does not record casualties from the cholera outbreak from Lagos State.
According to her, the response efforts include; the deployment of LGA DSNO, promotional jingles in English and Yoruba running in different media houses, Immediate inauguration of the Cholera Technical Working Group, putting IDC Olodo into active mode for isolation and management, reaching out to all our surveillance rangers at the LGA level to intensify surveillance activities, re-posting of cholera case definition on the platform of community informants for updates, awareness, and sensitization of the gatekeepers and other well-established community structures.
She therefore appealed to all to be safety conscious, always drink water only from clean sources, and practice good personal hand hygiene by frequently washing hands with soap and water.
Ajetunmobi maintained that anyone with the symptoms mentioned above should not partake in self-medication but present themselves at the nearest healthcare facility immediately.
