From Sola Ojo, Kaduna
Following the suspected outbreak of Anthrax disease in some parts of the Country including Kano, Yobe, and Kaduna States which has led to the death of some children, Chief Epidemiologist, Kaduna State Ministry of Health, Dr Jeremiah Daikwo on Friday regretted that some communities are still rejecting vaccine against the disease.
Anthrax is a bacterial disease that affects domestic and wild animals and can infect human beings especially children who may have had contact with infected animals.
Between 6-16 children have lost their lives to an outbreak of a strange disease suspected to be anthrax in Kafanchan, the headquarters of Jema’a local government area of Kaduna State between July 20-21, various reports indicated.
According to the Chief Epidemiologist who was reacting to the development on a national television monitored in Kaduna, the case was not reported in the hospital, and after 48 hours, the patient died.
He said, “as of yesterday, our findings revealed that 17 people were infected and we are still doing contact search to identify more people who may have been infected.
“About 12 people were admitted to the hospital, one of them has been discharged and the remaining 11 are still receiving treatment. So, all cases are being traced in the affected community and they are being brought for treatment at the moment.
“Around May this year, we have a case in Makarfi local government and the patient was treated and discharged. Since then, we have been doing sensitisation and we have not recorded any cases since then.
“Vaccine immunisation has been given to children but some of the communities are rejecting it because of the injection. Unfortunately, when they reject the vaccine, the disease will not show up immediately. But once it surfaces, then such children are potential targets. We have been working on that.
“As preventive measures, we should do more around awareness creation to prevent the disease from spreading across the country.
“So, if any child is sick with symptoms such as cough, fever, sore throat, difficulty in breathing, such should be reported immediately in the hospital; and to avoid coming in contact with infected children, we should wear our face masks and give distance whenever we are trying to deal with the patients”, he advised.
