10 people have been reportedly hospitalized in Barra village of Kirfi LGA of Bauchi State as a result of yet to be identified disease.
Dr Rilwanu Mohammed, Executive Chairman, Bauchi State Primary Health Care Development Agency in an interaction with reporters on the commemoration of the 2021 World Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD) Day celebration on Monday said a strange illness that is causing swollen legs has been discovered in Bara village of Kirfi LGA in Bauchi State.
He said 10 people have so far been hospitalized. “Late Sunday evening, we got a report that people’s legs were swelling up in Bara village, so far, 10 people have been affected.”
Rilwanu said he had directed the Disease Control Department of the agency to the village on a fact-finding mission.
He said the agency was suspecting onchocerciasis or lymphatic filariasis as the cause of the sudden swelling-up of people’s legs in the area. “As soon as we get the results of the investigation, we will take prompt action to curb it.”
The Chairman said communities with poor sanitation and lack of potable water are likely to face such kinds of illnesses.
He said in Bauchi State, over 1 million are suffering from Neglected Tropical Diseases just as there over a billion people suffering from the same across the globe.
The Chairman listed some of NTDs to include; Buruli ulcer, snake bite, leprosy, human African trypanosomiasis, Onchocerciasis, lymphatic filariasis, soil-transmitted helminths, trachoma, schistosomiasis, Guinea worm, yaws and loiasis.
He said Bauchi State has onchocerciasis in 12 LGAs; Lymphatic filariasis in 11 LGAs; Schistosomiasis in 16 LGAs, Trachoma in 2 LGAs while Guinea worm has already been eradicated in Nigeria as a whole.
Dr Rilwanu said the state is working with UNICEF and a local NGO, Mission To Save the Helpless (MITOSATH), for morbidity management and prevention of NTDs.
Source: Tribune Online
