By DAUD OLATUNJI Abeokuta
A traditional ruler in Ogun State name(withheld) and 103 residents of the State have been reportedly hospitalised following the recent outbreak of cholera in Abeokuta, the State capital.
But, the state government however, said the 104 cases recorded was as a result of gastroenteritis attributed to unhygienic condition of the affected areas and not cholera as being speculated .
Saturday Vanguard’s findings showed that the causalities cut across age and gender and communities. Gastroenteritis is a medical condition characterized by inflammation of the gastro-intestinal track that involves both stomach and small intestine resulting in some combination of diarrhoea, vomiting and abdominal pain. It was gathered that the areas mostly affected are Ijaiye, Adedotun, Ake, Onikolobo, Ita-Eko among several others communities in the state capital.
Saturday Vanguard’s visit to the state hospital, Ijaiye and the Federal Medical Centre, (FMC) Idi-Aba, in Abeokuta revealed that dozens of residents are either being hospitalized or treated for the water-borne disease.
One of such on admission when Saturday Vanguard visited was a traditional ruler in the state as well as a journalist who was discharged on Thursday.
Although the management of the state hospital insisted that they were yet to confirm the outbreak, a ward had already been created for those on admission as a result of what they called gastroenteritis.
However, at the FMC, the outbreak has been confirmed forcing the management of the tertiary of the hospital to issue a circular.
The State Commissioner for Health ,Dr. Olaokun Soyinka who addressed journalists denied that the epidemic was cholera outbreak, adding that three deaths had been recorded out of 104 cases of
‘’gastroenteritis” listed in Abeokuta South, Abeokuta North, Odeda and Obafemi-Owode.
The state Chairman of the Nigeria Medical Association , Dr. Olusoji Jagun said the association got the report of the outbreak, adding that laboratory investigations were still in progress.
Jagun, who linked the outbreak to water contamination, urged the state water corporation to rise up to the situation.
