Two dead, many hospitalised as cholera breaks out in ex-Boko Haram fighters’ camp

At least two people have been confirmed dead from a cholera outbreak at a facility where ex-Boko Haram fighters are being camped in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.

The Borno State Government confirmed the deaths at the Kosheri camp along the Maiduguri-Dikwa road. The government also said many other occupants of the camp are sick from the disease and are undergoing treatment.

A source at the camp had earlier told PREMIUM TIMES that the death from the disease was up to 20.

“I can confirm to you that the crisis started on Friday when 14 persons died,” the source, a healthcare worker, said.

The source, who asked not to be named for security reasons, said another six occupants died on Saturday.

However, in its reaction on Saturday, the Borno government said only two deaths have been recorded in the camp.

“Only two persons died among those that were diagnosed to have suffered from the cholera outbreak at Kosher camp,” the Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Zuwaira Gambo, told PREMIUM TIMES Saturday,

“Other persons diagnosed with cholera have been evacuated and taken to where they would be quarantined.”

The identity of the dead occupants could not be ascertained.

Though officials from the state ministry of health could not be reached for comment, the women affairs commissioner said: “everyone concerned at the ministry of health has been mobilized to the camp to contain the situation.”

The military and the Borno State government recently said more than 70,000 ex-Boko Haram members have surrendered since June last year.

The Borno government recently opened two more camps to accommodate the increasing number of surrendering terrorists. The Kosheri camp, where the cholera outbreak was reported, is one of the camps opened to decongest the main Hajj camp.

Cholera is a bacterial infection usually caused by the consumption of contaminated food or water.

Source: Premium Timesng