The Commissioner for Health, Prof. Adamu-Danladi Bojude, disclosed this during a media briefing in Gombe on Wednesday, stating that 74 patients had received treatment and been discharged, with no active admissions recorded at the time of the briefing.
Bojude said the government promptly deployed a Rapid Response Team to work alongside the local government health authorities to investigate the outbreak and provide free treatment to affected residents at the Primary Health Centre in Sheila.
He added that the state had recorded seven consecutive days without a new case as of 21 October, expressing hope that the outbreak could be declared over by 24 October if no further infections were reported.
The commissioner attributed the state’s efforts to contain cholera partly to preventive measures introduced in 2023 through an annual plan implemented by the Ministry of Health in collaboration with the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency (RUWASSA) and other development partners.
According to him, the programme targets more than 150 identified cholera hotspots across Gombe’s 11 local government areas and has helped reduce the frequency of outbreaks.
“This has been largely very successful and has reduced the occurrence of cholera outbreaks in the state to the barest minimum. We still have some settlements that are not classified as hotspots where we may have cases,” he said.
Bojude stressed that effective preparedness was essential to containing disease outbreaks, noting that the state’s response system was designed to facilitate rapid intervention and limit further transmission.
“The good thing about being prepared is that we are always ready to respond on time and control such cases within the shortest possible time,” he added.
Explaining the nature of the disease, the commissioner said cholera is a bacterial infection caused by Vibrio cholerae and commonly spreads through food or water contaminated with the bacteria.
He warned that the illness could become fatal within hours in severe cases if patients did not receive appropriate and timely treatment.
Bojude further disclosed that the state government had activated an Incident Management System at the Public Health Emergency Operations Centre to coordinate surveillance, identify suspected cases and oversee response efforts.
The measures, he said, were aimed at containing the outbreak and preventing further spread of the disease across the state.
