Yobe State Governor, Mai Mala Buni, has announced 214 cases of meningitis that killed 20 students in the state’s four colleges and three local councils.
According to him, the affected councils are Fika, Fune and Potiskum (the most densely populated town).
Confirming the death toll, yesterday, in Damaturu, the Commissioner of Health, Dr LawanGana, said: “Twenty students were killed at the Government Science Technical College, Government Girls Science Technical College, and Federal Government Girls College, in Potiskum area of the state. The other College affected by meningitis is Government Girls Science Technical College (GGSTC), Gadaka, in Fika.”
He added that most of the victims were evacuated from their schools to the Specialist Hospital, Potiskum, for isolation and treatment.
Speaking at the General Hospital, Potiskum, Deputy Chief Medical Director, Dr Abubakar Zakari, noted meningitis as an acute inflammation of the membrane covering the brain and the spinal cord, describing it as a very serious infection among students and residents.
He, therefore, called on the state government to construct more rooms in the isolation camps to treat people with meningitis.
The Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Dr Muhammad Idris, stated that the deaths were suspected to be from a meningitis outbreak in schools.
Buni, represented by his deputy, Idi Gubana, directed the Ministry of Education to temporarily relocate to Potiskum town and respond to the outbreak of meningitis in the affected three colleges.
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Isa Bukar, said 214 cases were recorded with about two dozen deaths in communities.
He added that three victims in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) were responding to treatment.
