Cholera kills 35 in northern Nigeria

Cholera has killed 35 people in two northern Nigerian states in recent days with outbreaks frequent in the country during the rainy season.

Fatsuma Talba, Yobe state health commissioner, said: "We have recorded 33 deaths from a cholera outbreak which infected 690 people in six (districts) in the last four days."

She said health personnel and drugs were being dispatched to the affected areas.

In Sokoto state, two deaths and 70 infections were recorded over the last week, said state Health Commissioner Abdullahi Maigwandu.

The highly contagious 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.