By Ushang Ewa
No fewer than 23 cases of Cerebrospinal Meningitis have been confirmed by the Cross River State government with one confirmed dead on Wednesday.
The Cross River State Government says the recorded cases are mainly from Ogoja and Yala local government areas of northern Cross River State; both more than 250 kilometers north of Calabar, the state capital.
“Cross River State is actually one of the 16 states with the outbreak of meningitis. We’ve had about twenty something cases and the very recent past, four cases almost at the same time which is not normal for the outbreak in Cross River State,” Dr. Inyang Asibong, the state’s commissioner for health told Channels TV.
“We have lost one person already out of the number, a child and it is regretted. I have put machinery in place, a team led by the State Epidemiologist to carry out surveillance,” Inyang said, disclosing that the state was on top of the situation as it was working with the Disease Surveillance Control office in the affected areas to manage the situation.
She assured residents that an investigation was ongoing after the 23 cases were discovered through “line-listing” and promised vaccination will be carried out soon.
“It’s through line-listing that we were able to uncover these 23 cases, and another notable case is that they are from the northern part of Cross River State; mainly Ogoja and Yala Local Government Areas. We are treating the symptoms while we await the vaccines for the Type C,” Dr. Asibong said.
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