Kirikiri Prison Is Currently Grappling With A Cholera Outbreak

There has been a cholera outbreak at Kirikiri Medium Security Prison, as confirmed by the Lagos State government on Sunday, June 30.

According to Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, 25 cases of severe gastroenteritis were identified as cholera.

He further updated that prompt medical and environmental interventions have been successfully implemented in response to the outbreak in the state.

“We were able to supply Kiriki­ri medium prison with intrave­nous fluids, infection prevention and other health consumables. Additionally, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has donated 10,000 doses of pharmaceuticals which have been delivered to the prison to support prison health facilities with prevention strat­egies for about 3,200 inmates if required. Immediate water and sanita­tion issues have been corrected and there is ongoing inspections of other correctional facilities in the state,” the commissioner said. 

He explained that many of the samples taken from commonly sold street beverages by undercover environmental officers from the Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA) and the Ministry of Health in the affected areas confirmed the presence of Vibrio cholera bacteria, which is the cause of cholera.

Addressing the source of the original outbreak two weeks ago, Abayomi disclosed that it has been traced to unregulated street beverages and contaminated water supply.

“All of containers had no NAF­DAC accreditation numbers, in­dicating they are small cottage backyard informal production units. Identifying the precise lo­cation of manufacture has prov­en difficult and the directorate of environmental health is plan­ning to seal any such unregulated manufacture and make arrests of anybody involved with manufac­ture or distribution of beverages without NAFDAC numbers,” Abayomi said.