MSF treats 1,600 patients as cholera ravages Borno | Tellwell Newspaper
Tellwell Newspaper, Abuja – Nigeria:
French medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has offered medical care to more than 1,600 people infected with cholera in Borno state as the intestinal tract infection continues to ravage communities.
In a statement obtained by Tellwell Newspaper, MSF said the rapid spread of the contagious disease promoted the organization to set up cholera treatment centres in Bolori II ward in the city where patients were quarantined and treated.
“MSF staff have admitted a total of 1,644 people with cholera to the treatment centre since 27 August,” the medical charity in the statement.
“As cholera is highly transmissible, MSF teams are encouraging the local community to take protective measures to prevent the disease from spreading further,” it added.
The charity expanded its cholera intervention as cholera cases reported to the centre continued to sharply rise from 50 per week at the beginning of September to 500 by the end of the month.
According to MSF, it set up the Bolori treatment centre late in August as part of its annual preparations for receiving cholera patients.
As a result of significant influx of the patients into the cholera treatment centre from mid-September, MSF expanded the centre’s capacity from 90 to 120 beds and opened an oral rehydration point near the epicentre of the outbreak.
“We expect other organisations also to scale up their activities by opening cholera treatment centres and oral hydration points to respond to the upsurge in cholera patients,” MSF project coordinator Daniela Batista said in the statement.
MSF warned the cholera outbreak could worsen the already appalling level of infant malnutrition in Borno state where the organization had recorded an “unprecedented numbers of patients since May 2022″ in its nutrition centres.
A whooping 4,400 malnourished children were admitted for inpatient care in the first eight months of this year, a 160 per cent increase on the same period time last year, the charity said.
Another 4,000 malnourished children were enrolled for outpatient care from January to August 2022, a 94 per cent increase on the same period in 2021, it further said.
“We are deeply concerned about the possible negative impact of the cholera outbreak on the nutritional status of children under five,”
MSF medical coordinator Dr Htet Aung Kyi said.
“Periodic outbreaks of disease, particularly cholera, measles and seasonal peaks of malaria, can further compound the malnutrition situation,” Kyi added.
On September 19, Tellwell exclusively reported how Borno state health authourities had written to international medical charities seeking support to contain an outbreak of cholera which continued to ravage seven local governments since the disease was detected on September 14.
Cholera is a water-borne bacterial infection that affects the intestinal track and is characterized by vomiting, watery stool, dehydration and fatigue.
It can be transmitted by flies when they come in contact with food and can be fatal if not treated on time.
It is more prevalent in the rainy season when rainwater washes dirt and faeces into open wells and stagnant water, major sources of drinking water in rural areas.
Nigeria, Africa’s largest oil producer, suffers from a high-rate of water-borne diseases as a result of dilapidated infrastructure and under-investment.
