“Investigation yet to reveal source of cholera outbreak”

…vaccines unavailable
…30 patients hospitalised

Investigation of water, food and beverage sources is yet to reveal the source of the ongoing cholera outbreak in Lagos, nearly two weeks after the diseases claimed 29 lives.

Akin Abayomi, commissioner for Health, Lagos State said it the state’s surveillance cannot yet tie the outbreak to a specific although efforts are ongoing to unravel the sources of samples tested.
The death toll rose from 24 on Saturday to 29 on Monday.

“So far, we have not been able to identify a source yet, but the investigations are continuing because we want to see if we can identify a particular source or sources. But moving forward, we are going to keep active surveillance around our water sources and the distribution of beverages in Lagos state,” Abayomi said speaking during the Lagos State Multi Agency Press Briefing and Update on Cholera on Monday.
The commissioner further revealed that 30 patients were currently on admission for varying degrees of the disease at facilities including the IDH, Yaba, general hospitals and private hospitals.

He said about 579 suspected cases have been identified, 43 of which are confirmed through laboratory analysis.
He further noted that late presentation killed majority of the patients who died from cholera.
“Most of these deaths were caused by patients presenting very late at a stage where we could not resuscitate them because they had severe rehydration and many patients were actually brought in dead,” Abayomi said.
“Out of all the samples we were able to collect, we were able to identify vibrio cholera. So this is indeed a confirmed case of a cholera outbreak by a subtype O1 that is known to us to be very contagious and to cause significant sickness in those that contract it.”