*Asks anyone with symptoms to report at nearest healthcare facility immediately
By; BAYO AKAMO, Ibadan
Oyo State Government on Saturday, alerted the people of the state to be more vigilant over suspected cholera outbreak in the state.
The state Commissioner for Health, Dr. Oluwaserimi Ajetunmobi who raised the alarm asked the people of the state to adopt precautionary measures to prevent the spread of a potential cholera outbreak in the state.
Dr Ajetunmobi said during her visit to a private hospital in Ibadan where two suspected cholera cases were receiving treatment that Cholera is a bacterial infection spread by eating or drinking food or water contaminated by the faeces (poop) of an infected person.
The commissioner pointed out that cholera is highly infectious and can cause severe acute watery diarrhoea with severe dehydration, and that It may be associated with nausea, profuse vomiting, and fever.
Dr Ajetunmobi said 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.
She stressed that there is no cause for alarm as the ministry and other partners are on top of the situation and that Oyo the state government through the Ministry of Health is making efforts 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 then appealed to residents in the state to be safety conscious and always drink water only from clean sources, practice good personal hand hygiene by frequently washing hands with soap and water.
The Commissioner said anyone with the symptoms mentioned above should not partake in self-medication but present themselves at the nearest healthcare facility immediately.
