Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-c4f8m Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T08:03:49.750Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Epidemiological features of an outbreak of gastroenteritis/cholera in Katsina, Northern Nigeria

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 October 2009

J. U. Umoh ,
A. A. Adesiyun ,
J. O. Adekeye  and
M. Nadarajah
J. U. Umoh
Affiliation:
Departments of Veterinary Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria
A. A. Adesiyun
Affiliation:
Departments of Veterinary Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria
J. O. Adekeye
Affiliation:
Veterinary Microbiology and Pathology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria
M. Nadarajah
Affiliation:
Government Health Centre, Katsina, Nigeria
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

In April 1982, Katsina, in Northern Nigeria, was affected by an outbreak of gastroenteritis associated with Vibrio cholerae serotype ‘Ogawa’ and 662 patients were admitted to the Katsina General Hospital during a 16-week period. The outbreak affected all ages and both sexes and all parts of the town and its immediate surroundings except the Government Residential Area (GRA). The overall case fatality rate was 7·7%. Male specific case fatality and female specific case fatality rates were 9·7 and 6·2% respectively. ‘Adults’ and those in the 11–20 and 21–30 age groups accounted for most of the cases. The epidemic curve was of a propagated and protracted nature. About 51·7% of all the patients spent between 2 and 5 days in the hospital. A similar pattern was observed for all age groups regardless of sex. Cholera vibrio ‘Ogawa’, Shigella spp., Salmonella spp., Proteus spp. and Escherichia coli were isolated from 16 patients. All well-water samples obtained from the compounds of the cases were contaminated with MPN/100 ml index ranging from 540 to greater than 2400. All samples were positive for faecal coliforms. Salmonella spp., Shigella spp., Proteus spp. and non-0, group 1 (non-0 1) V. cholerae were isolated. Water sellers probably facilitated the spread of the outbreak.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Hygiene , Volume 91 , Issue 1 , August 1983 , pp. 101 - 111
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1983

References

REFERENCES

Adesiyun, A. A., Adekeye, J., Umoh, J. U. & Nadarajah, M. (1983). Studies on well water and possible health risks in Katsina, Nigeria. Journal of Hygiene. 90, 190–205.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Aldova, E., Laznickova, K., Stepanekova, E. & Lieteva, J. (1968). Isolation of nonagglutinable vibrios from an enteritis outbreak in Czechoslovakia. Journal of Infectious Diseases 118, 25–31.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cowan, S. T. & Steel, K. J. (1965). Identification of Medical Bacteria. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Dakin, W. P. H., Howell, D. J., Sutton, R. G. A., O'Keefe, M. F. & Thomas, P. (1974). Gastroenteritis due to non-agglutinable (non-cholera) vibrios. Medical Journal of Australia. 2, 487–490.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
De Araoz, J. & Subrahmanyam, D. V. (1970). Environmental health measures in cholera control. In Principles and Practice of Cholera Control, pp. 95–109. World Health Organization, Geneva.Google Scholar
Furniss, A. L. (1979). Identification of human vibrios. In Identification Methods for Microbiologists (ed. Skinner, F. A. and Lovelock, D. W.), pp. 143–150. Academic Press, London.Google Scholar
Mackay, D. M. (1979). Cholera: the present world situation. Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 73, 1–2.Google Scholar
Mandara, M. P. & Mhalu, F. S. (1980/1981). Cholera control in an inaccessible district in Tanzania: importance of temporary rural centres. Medical Journal of Zambia 15, 10–13.Google Scholar
McIntyre, O. R., Feeley, J. C., Greenhouqh, W. B., Benenson, A. S., Hassan, S. I. & Saad, A. (1965). Diarrhoea caused by non-cholerae vibrios. American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 14, 412–418.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mosley, W. H. (1970). Epidemiology of cholera. In Principles and Practice of Cholera Control, pp. 23–27. World Health Organization, Geneva.Google Scholar
Nalin, D. R. (1972). Mortality from cholera and other diarrhoeal diseases at a cholera hospital. Tropical and Geographical Medicine 24, 101–106.Google Scholar
Rand, M. C, Greenbero, A. E. & Taras, M. J. (1975). Microbiological examination of water. In Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wasteuxiter, 14th ed., p. 875–927. Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Sack, R. B., Gorbach, S. L., Banwell, J. G., Jacobs, B., Chatterjee, B. D. &Mitra, R. C. (1971). Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli isolated from patients with severe cholera-like disease. Journal of Infectious Diseases 123, 378–385.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sack, R. B., Hirschhorn, N., Brownlee, I., Cash, R. A., Woodward, W. E. & Sack, D. A. (1975). Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli-associated diarrhoeal disease in Apache children. New England Journal of Medicine 292, 1041–1045.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wilson, R., Lieb, S., Roberts, A., Stryker, S., Janowski, H., Gunn, R., Davis, B., Riddle, C. F., Barrett, T., Morris, J. G. Jr & Blake, P. A. (1981). Non O group 1 Vibrio cholerae gastroenteritis associated with eating raw oysters. American Journal of Epidemiology 114, 293–298.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
World Health Organization (1969). Outbreak of gastroenteritis by non-agglutinable (NAG) vibrios. Who Weekly Epidemiological Record 44, 10.Google Scholar