LAGOS, Nigeria
At least 15 people, mostly children, have been killed by a cholera outbreak in Nigeria's north central Plateau state, according to a lawmaker.
"It is true that as of Monday, around 15 people have died from a new cholera outbreak in Langtang," Godfrey Lamdip, a lawmaker from the area, told Anadolu Agency over the phone on Wednesday afternoon.
"I have brought this issue to the attention of my colleagues and we have liaised with the state government to intervene to address the outbreak," Lamdip said.
The lawmaker added that a government delegation has visited Kantam and Filam, the two villages affected by the outbreak.
"Many people have now been admitted for treatment so we are on top of the situation," he said.
Joseph Wuyep, a resident of Kantam, said at least nine people had been killed in the village since the outbreak started two weeks ago.
"The problem is the water. We drink polluted water. We do not have good water and we have called on the government to help us. We drink from the stream which is polluted by animals, among other things," Wuyep, a school teacher, told Anadolu Agency.
"Six of the nine victims are children who died after protracted defecation and vomiting," he said.
Cholera outbreaks are very common in remote parts of Nigeria, where safe drinkable water is hard to come by and many residents make do with water from rivers which are often polluted by grazing cattle.
Most locals also wash their clothes in the same streams from which they drink.
Experts say poverty and poor hygiene are the most prominent causes of the repeated outbreaks, especially in the north and some parts of the south.
Dozens were killed in a number of cholera outbreaks in many parts of the northern and southeast regions last year.
