Cholera kills 18 in northern Nigeria

A fresh cholera outbreak has killed 18 people in northern Nigeria's Bauchi state in the past week, officials said Tuesday, in the latest epidemic to ravage the region during the rainy season. They said infections spread across four districts of the state, with the worst-hit being Warju council area, which recorded 10 deaths. "We have recorded 10 deaths from cholera outbreak while another 30 people have been hospitalised in the past week", Adamu Yahaya, head of Warju local government area of the state, told AFP. State health commissioner Sani Malami said eight other people had died in three other districts. Some 35 people have died from cholera in northern Yobe and Sokoto states in the past two weeks, while dozens of others have been hospitalised. Cholera, an intestinal infection, is transmitted by water soiled by human waste. The disease leads to diarrhoea, dehydration and death if untreated. Cholera outbreaks occur regularly during the rainy season in Nigeria, when downpours wash contaminants into wells used by families. The rainy season typically runs from April to September.