Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed.
ARMSTRONG ALLAHMAGANI, Bauchi –
The Bauchi State government has confirmed the death of eight people following a resurgence of probable cases of yellow fever in Ganjuwa local government area of the state.
The Executive Chairman of Bauchi State Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr. Rilwanu Mohammed disclosed this while briefing journalists in his office on Monday.
He said that eight other people are currently receiving treatment.
According to him, samples of some patients taken came out to be yellow fever positive.
“This suspicion came from one of our supervisors who went to the local government for Polio immunisation and found out that some locals were having yellowness of the eyes and urine.”
According to him, when the samples were taken and examined, they were all confirmed to be yellow fever.
He said that the cases happened in Ganjuwa local government where three people died in one place and four died in another place.
He said: “All these cases are called probable cases because the deaths are not confirmed yellow fever.”
Mohammed said that with the discovery of the virus in the area, proactive measures have been taken to ensure that the outbreak did not spread to other parts of the state saying that large quantities of yellow fever vaccines have been procured and will soon commence immunization.
The Executive Chairman said that the Federal Government was planning to carryout extensive campaign on yellow fever in the State and other places adding that the government has activated rapid response team to safe the people who are mostly farmers.
He urged the residents to prioritise prevention by sleeping under insecticide mosquito net to avoid the mosquito parasite responsible for spreading of the fever.
Mohammed therefore appealed to parents to release their children for vaccination to curb the spread of yellow fever stressing that, “since it is mosquitoes that spread the disease, people should please use the treated nets and ensure that their environments are kept clean”.
He also appealed to traditional rulers and community leaders to sensitise their subjects on the need to embrace vaccination and clean environment for their own good.