A cholera outbreak in Kano State has killed six people and infected scores, the state health commissioner said Sunday, although the toll was placed at a higher figure by a local charity.
"Six people died out of the 46 cases recorded," Abubakar Labaran Yusuf told newsmen of the outbreak this week in Kafin Dalawa village, 70 kilometres (43 miles) outside the state capital of Kano.
According to him, contaminated water in the area was the most likely cause. He revealed that teams have been dispatched to clean water sources and supply drugs to the affected communities.
Responding to the development, a local medical charity put the toll higher, saying at least 16 people had died and the outbreak was threatening to become a pandemic.
"We have recorded 16 deaths from the cholera outbreak in the past six days, which has so far infected 701 people with 20 severe cases," Surajo Alkassim of ISMA Medicare Initiatives told AFP.
He said the organization had been treating patients in a make-shift hospital in the village since the outbreak.
"The outbreak is becoming a pandemic in the area because patients are trooping from neighbouring villages, which is putting a strain on our team and medical supplies," Alkassim said.
Cholera, a highly contagious intestinal infection, is transmitted by water soiled by human waste. The disease leads to diarrhea, dehydration and death if left untreated.
Outbreaks are most common during the rainy season, which roughly runs from April to October in Nigeria.
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