By Damilare Adeleye

The Lagos State government has confirmed a cholera outbreak at Kirikiri Medium Security Prison, with 25 inmates affected by severe gastroenteritis.

The Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, while giving an update on the outbreak of cholera in the state on Sunday, said that urgent medical and environmental intervention measures had been implemented successfully.

“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,” he said.

“Immediate water and sanitation issues have been corrected and there is ongoing inspections of other correctional facilities in the state,” the commissioner added.

Two weeks ago, Abayomi revealed that the initial outbreak stemmed from unregulated street beverages and contaminated water sources.

The commissioner further explained that many of the samples taken from popular street beverages purchased 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.

“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,” he said.