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The Causes And Effects Of Cholera Among Children
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Cholera is a disease characterized by profuse
diarrhea accompanied with a severe dehydration and loss of electrolyte
(Colwell and Huq, 1994), caused by toxigenic Vibrio cholerae, a
serologically diverse, environmental, and gram-negative rod bacterium
(Li et al., 2002). In the absence of appropriate treatment, there is a
high mortality rate. Cholera is a major public health concern because of
its high transmissibility, death-to-case ratio and ability to occur in
epidemic and pandemic forms (Kaper et al., 1995). Cholera is responsible
for an estimated death of 120,000 globally every year (WHO, 2001), and
still continues to be a scourge worldwide covering all continents. In
developing countries with endemic areas, cholera is still very
significant with incidence of more than five million cases per year
(Tauxe et al., 1994; Lan and Reeves, 2002). The explosive epidemic
nature and the severity of the disease and the potential threat to food
and water supplies have prompted the listing of V. cholerae as an
organism of biological defense research (Zhang et al., 2003). In an
epidemic, the great majority of cases can be recognized by clinical
diagnosis easily and a bacteriological diagnosis is often not required.
Cholera is endemic in Nigeria (Falade and Lawoyin, 1999) and
epidemiological features (Utsalo et al., 1991, 1992; Eko et al., 1994;
Hutin et al., 2003) have been reported from various parts of the country
with investigations on possible sources of outbreaks. Outbreaks of
cholera had been reported from various States in Nigeria such as Ogun,
Edo, Pleatue State etc, of Nigeria. Investigations on outbreak of
cholera in Nigeria have focused on the epidemiological features, the
probable source of contamination and the risk factors without spatial
linkage of health data. However, advances in Geographical Information
Systems (GIS) technology provides this opportunity and have become an
indispensible tool for processing, analyzing and visualizing spatial
data within the domains of environmental health, disease ecology and
public health (Kistemann et al., 2002).
The use of GIS is not new in
waterborne disease outbreaks and cholera studies. It has been applied in
investigating waterborne disease outbreak (NWW, 1999), microbial risk
assessment of drinking water reservoirs (Kistemann et al., 2001a),
drinking water supply structure (Kistemann et al., 2001b), and spatial
patterns of diarrhoea illness with regards to water supply structures
(Dangendorf et al., 2002). In cholera studies, GIS technology has been
applied in studying the correlation between socio-economic and
demographic indices and cholera incidence (Ackers et al., 1998),
environmental risk factors (Ali et al., 2002a), spatial epidemiology
(Ali et al., 2002b), health risk prediction (Fleming et al., 2007) and
spatial and demographic patterns of cholera (Osei and Duker, 2008). This
study seeks to assess the causes and effect of cholera outbreak in
Benin City, Edo State.
1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
The threat of
cholera rampaging through Nigeria has long been of concern to many. The
crowded settings coupled with minimal water, sanitation, hygiene and
health services, present a fearsome breeding ground for cholera to
quickly escalate beyond control. In an attempt to avoid this worse-case
scenario, a massive response needs to be mounted by the Government to
enlighten the general public about the causes of this deadly disease and
also ways to avoid the outbreak. Hygiene promoters should be employed
to work every day, sharing information on how to avoid contracting the
illness and the signs and symptoms of the disease.
1.3 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
The purpose of this study is to determine the causes and effect of cholera during rainy season in Benin City.
The specific objectives of the study are:
1. To identify the cause of cholera in Benin City.
2. To ascertain if cholera outbreak is usually rampant during the rainy season among children in Benin City.
3. To identify the problems associated with the prevention of cholera in Benin City
4. To determine the ways of preventing cholera outbreak in Benin City.
1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
The following research questions were asked and answered in the study:
1. Does poor environmental sanitation lead cholera outbreak?
2. Can drinking and bathing with contaminated water lead to cholera outbreak?
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ABSRACT - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]This research work was designed to examine and analyze the causes and effects of cholera during raining season in Benin City. Seven (7) research questions were formulated and questionnaires were administered to one hundred and fifty (150) respondents in order to gather data for the research. Results showed that poor environment sanitation leads to cholera outbreak, washing of hands before eating helps to prevent or reduce the cholera outbreak, also drinking and bathing with contaminated water le ... Continue reading---
