Five persons have been killed by the outbreak of cholera at Ayamelum local government area of Anambra State.
The State Commissioner for Health Dr. Joe Akabike who made this known to reporters in Awka said that so far, 120 cases of the disease have been reported.
The commissioner said that it was necessary to alert the public of the presence of the disease in the state so that people should take precautionary measures, advising people to maintain high level hygiene which include regular washing of hands as means of avoiding contact with the disease.
It was gathered that following the outbreak of the disease, officials of the state ministry of health have swung into action to educate the people in various local government areas on how to avoid contracting the disease.
According to him, the state government has provided 400 preventive tools that would protect health workers and had trained people on ways of preventing the disease.
Akabike also spoke on the reported outbreak of the dreaded Ebola disease in Lagos, saying that it was necessary to warn the people, especially Igbos who travel a lot to be careful. He explained that symptoms of the disease include malaria, fever and diarrhea, informing the people that Ebola was yet to have medical cure.
He warned people to avoid touching corpses of victims of the disease and to avoid sexual intercourse with patients of the disease until after three months of their recovery in order not to contact the disease.
