12 die of cholera in NE Nigeria: official

Twelve people have died of cholera in northeast Nigeria's Adamawa state, the health commissioner said today, in the latest outbreak of the disease in the region.

The outbreak has infected 142 people in Mubi district since Sunday, Ahmad Sajo told AFP.

"We have recorded 12 deaths from (a) cholera outbreak in Mubi north and Mubi south local government areas in the past four days," he said.

"A total of 142 people were infected and medical teams have been dispatched to the affected communities to contain the rapid spread of the disease," Sajo said.

He said the medical teams were yet to find out the cause of the outbreak. Cholera is caused by a bacterium transmitted through contaminated food or drinking water. It causes acute diarrhoea, with children particularly at risk.

Water-borne diseases are a constant threat because of a lack of adequate sanitation as well as stagnant groundwater during the rainy season in Nigeria. Last month 13 people were killed in a similar outbreak in nearby Yobe state, which the authorities blamed on contaminated water.