Angela Onwuzoo With the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention confirming the disease in 115 Local Government Areas, across 32 states, physicians and researchers have urged the federal and state governments to provide safe drinking water to communities prone to flooding to curb further transmission of the infection. The experts also want the FG to holistically address flooding in communities, warning that such a deluge could worsen the outbreak. Establishing a link between flooding and cholera outbreak, a Medical Researcher, Dr Dan Onwujekwe, said communities affected by perennial flooding in the country may witness an outbreak of acute diarrhoeal diseases if the government fails to provide them with alternative sources of clean and safe water to drink.
Speaking in an interview with PUNCH Healthwise, the physician warned that an outbreak of cholera in flood-prone communities and states will fuel the number of casualties recorded so far from the outbreak. Cholera, according to the experts, is a waterborne disease and the risk of transmission is higher where there is poor sanitation and disruption of potable water supply. The researcher noted that cholera is always a major threat when the country experiences severe flooding.
Onwujekwe, who is a retired Chief Research Fellow at the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, Yaba Lagos, recalled such outbreaks happening in the past and urged the government to avoid a repeat of the incident. Cholera outbreaks, based on rec.
