Clement Nanchi 
The death toll in the cholera outbreak in Ndibokote village, Ezza-Inyimagu, Agbaja Autonomous Community, Izzi Local Government Area of Ebonyi State has risen to 16.
The initial outbreak of the disease which occured last Thursday, claimed 10 lives with 20 other suspected infected persons receiving treatment at the hospital.
The State Epidemiologist Dr Ogbonna Nwanbeke, made the disclosure during an emergency meeting involving Officials of the State Ministry of Health.
Water and Environment, Representative of the Red Cross and Nigerian Center for Disease Control (NCDC), WHO officials on measures to curtail the outbreak
Since the outbreak of the disease, emergency operational center team meeting was a gathering of stakeholders to brainstorm on how to curtail the cholera outbreak.
Dr Nwanbeke said that temporary treatment centers, has been set up to identify cases and called for more emergency support to address the menace.
“Those with mild symptoms , we have given them oral dehydration salt, stabilized them , they are stable”
“As we speak now, we are heading to Ndibokete village to set up a unit there and do active management, create awareness and community sensitization.
Reacting, the Director of Public Health in the Ministry Dr Hycinth Ebenyi, who chaired the meeting attributed the outbreak to poor water, hygiene and sanitation practices and called for collaborative efforts to nip the situation in the bud.
“We have been to that area, water is a problem, it worsened the situation that we don’t have standard toilet”
“What they do there is open defecation, no washing of hands, that was why the spread was so much”
In a remark, the State Disease Surveillance and Notification Officer Mr Sampson Orogwu, said that the outbreak spread from a group of people who ate from a common pot and drank water from a pond ”
“There is need for activation of a common fund to speed up efforts to the control of the disease which has spread to two other villages in the area, Ndiogbaga and Igweledioha villages respectively”
The Cholera Case Manager Dr Chinedu Eze, stressed the importance of sensitization and contact tracing expressing fears that relatives of the victims and initial handlers of the cases might be at risk.
“Most of the people that handled the cases were just auxiliary nurses, they were not observing the prescribed precautionary measures needed for such occurrence”
