A cholera outbreak in 11 Northern states has killed 231 people thisyear and infected more than 4,500 others, the country’s chiefepidemiologist said on Friday.
Neighbouring Cameroon has been suffering its worst epidemic of cholera, a disease generally spread through food and water contaminatedwith bacteria, since 2004 and there had been fears that the outbreakcould spread into Nigeria and Chad.
“Recent cases are mainly from the northeastern part of the country,” said Dr Henry Akpan, head of epidemiology in Nigeria’s ministry ofhealth, adding that 4,665 cases had been recorded in Africa’s mostpopulous nation since January. Nigeria is also fighting a measlesepidemic.
The disease, characterised by a high temperature and red spots on the body, has killed more than 1,400 people in Africa this year in someof the most serious outbreaks seen for a decade.
Health Minister Onyebuchi Chukwu said Nigeria had confirmed 4,771 cases in 2010, a ten_fold increase on the same period last year. Hesaid government would provide N2.1 b ($14 million) of vaccines andsyringes to combat the epidemic.
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