The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday said the country has recorded 1,307 suspected cases of cholera across 30 states and 98 Local Government Areas.
The Director General of NCDC, Dr Jide Idris, who stated this at the national health security press briefing in Abuja, added that the country also recorded 34 cholera-associated deaths, resulting in a Case Fatality Rate of 2.6 per cent, which is above the target of less than one per cent.
According to him, cholera remains endemic in Nigeria, particularly in communities with limited access to clean water and sanitation, and it is a highly contagious infection caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae and can be fatal without prompt and adequate treatment.
He warned that as the country approaches the peak of the rainy season, a concerning trend in cholera transmission is emerging.
The proactive dissemination of localized flood risk data is expected to drive coordinated action at the federal, state, and community levels, ensuring timely interventions that can help prevent waterborne disease outbreaks like cholera. NCDC is actively tracking these occurrences.
“As of epidemiological week 16 (ending 20 April 2025), 1,307 suspected cases of cholera have been reported across 30 states and 98 Local Government Areas (LGAs), with 34 associated deaths, resulting in a CFR of 2.6 per cent. This rate is well above our target of less than one per cent,” he said.
Cholera is a food and water-borne disease, caused by the ingestion of the organism Vibrio Cholerae in contaminated water and food.
Water is usually contaminated by the faeces of infected individuals. Contamination of drinking water can occur at the source, during transportation, or during storage at home. Food may be contaminated by soiled hands, either during preparation or while eating.
Beverages prepared with contaminated water and sold by street vendors, ice, and commercially bottled water have been implicated as vehicles of transmission, as have cooked vegetables and fruits freshened with untreated wastewater.
The time between infection and the appearance of symptoms (incubation period) is two hours to five days. It has a higher risk of transmission in areas that lack adequate sanitation facilities and/or a regular supply of clean water. Unsafe practices such as improper disposal of refuse and open defecation endanger the safety of water used for drinking and personal use.
Idris pointed out that the people most at risk of cholera are people of all ages living in places with limited access to clean water, people living in areas with poor sanitation and poor hygiene, people living in slum areas where basic water or sanitation infrastructure is missing, people living in rural areas who depend on surface water or unsafe piped or borehole well water sources for drinking, people who consume potentially contaminated food or fruits without washing and cooking properly, and people who do not perform hand hygiene at appropriate times
