The Secretary to the Zamfara State Government, Prof.
Abdullahi Muhammad Shinkafi, has disclosed that at least 215 people mostly
children have died and over 1,600 infected as cerebrospinal meningitis hit the
state.
Shinkafi, who is also the Chairman of the State monitoring
Committee on Prevention, Control and Sensitization on Meningitis, spoke
yesterday while briefing newsmen on the epidemic.
He said however that measures had been taken to stop
the spread, including the setting up of monitoring and control committees in
each local government area and the dispensing of drugs to those infected.
Some residents who spoke to Daily Trust narrated how they
lost their loved ones to the epidemic within short periods.
After a visit to Rawayya village in Bungudu LGA where at
least 10 people, mostly children, were reported dead within some weeks, our reporter
found some patients receiving treatment at the village Primary Health Centre.
The Officer-In-Charge of the clinic Mallam
Lurwanu Bello Rawayya said they had received 17 cases within two weeks although
no death was recorded in the dispensary.
He said the patients included those brought from the nearby
villages, adding that most of those residing in the very remote areas were
initially not aware of the type of illness that had befallen them, therefore
resorting to the traditional or orthodox type of treatment with resultant
deaths.
A resident simply identified as Kabir, who lost his daughter
within 15 minutes of her complaint of serious headache, stiff neck and high
feverish condition, said "She was asleep when she woke up demanding for
cold water. She took the water and then came down from the bed, saying she
preferred to sleep on a bare floor. She then started gasping and experiencing
breathing difficulty and she gave up the ghost within 15 minutes."
Another resident, Abdulkadir Yahaya, said he lost his sister
two weeks ago after she spent about eight days receiving treatment. "I can
confirm to you that over 10 people mostly children were confirmed dead in this
community even though the number of deaths has significantly reduced in recent
times," he said, adding,
"We went to the cemetery to bury a daughter of my
neighbour and shortly after we came back another child died and we had to go
for his burial again. The situation is a very pathetic one as no one knows what
the future holds."
The epidemic, Daily Trust has learnt, hit Tsangaya schools
especially within Gusau metropolis. At an almajiri school belonging to one
Mallam Mahe in Mayana area in Gusau, the state capital, one boy died last week
and seven others infected.
Even though other disciples at the school survived the
epidemic, there are also reported cases of deaths in such schools in Magami
town and some villages in Bungudu LGA.
Despite the enlightenment campaign for the residents to
sleep in well ventilated rooms and take measures on personal hygiene, the rooms
in which the disciples sleep have no floors and are covered with dust and
sands.
Katsina death toll reaches 41
In Katsina State, the death toll has risen to 41 as at
Monday, as many patients were being diagnosed daily since its reported outbreak
two weeks ago.
A member of the state Emergency Operation Center (EOC) who
spoke in confidence, said the outbreak had spread to 13 local government areas
of the state.
According to him, members of the center were hurriedly
summoned to an emergency meeting on Monday to review the alarming number and
come up with quick intervention.
Some selected health personnel are currently being trained
on how to handle the situation especially on prevention methods due to
non-availability of the vaccines in the state.
The state Executive Secretary, Primary Health Care
Development Agency, Dr Maawuya Aliu, said yesterday he was not available and
asked our reporter to come today.
The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health Dr.
Dr Kabir Mustapha had earlier said government was working round the clock
to raise funds to secure the vaccines from pfizer.
In a related development, the Borno State Government has
announced a set of measures to secure the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs)
in the camps in the state and along the border with Niger Republic against the
scourge of meningitis.
The State Commissioner of Health, Dr. Haruna Mshelia, who
announced to newsmen in Maiduguri yesterday that there was no reported case of
the epidemic in the state so far, listed the measures as including mounting of
surveillance along the border to cater for the IDPs moving in and out of the
country.
Dr. Mshelia said various healthcare and immunization-related
technical groups had been reactivated while relevant agencies and organizations
had been identified with the aim of pooling their efforts towards ensuring the
security of the IDPs.
Culled from Daily Trust
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