Disease

Dengue outbreak hits in northeastern India

Health officials in northeastern India said they were monitoring an outbreak of dengue, a tropical flu-like disease that kills 5,000 Indians each year. Authorities in the state of Meghalaya said 18 people had tested positive for dengue and a health alert had been issued.

Hospitals in the area have been instructed to get supplies of appropriate medications and prepare for an outbreak, the district magistrate of West Garo Hills Pravin Bakshi said.

Nigeria Cholera Outbreak Grows

The outbreak of cholera is growing and expanding in the west African country of Nigeria as the bacterial disease is being reported in higher numbers from more states.

According to the Nigerian news source, The Guardian, statistics from the Ministry of Health Thursday indicated that 1,623 cases had been recorded, while 86 deaths had been reported.

The breakdown of cases is as follows:

Zamfara State has the highest figure of 1,110 cases and 51 deaths while Plateau State has 130 cases and 11 deaths. Others are Lagos State (134 cases, four deaths), Ogun State (115 cases, five deaths), Nasarawa State (105 cases, nine deaths) and Oyo State (29 cases, six deaths).