Cholera outbreak infects over 100 students in northern Nigeria

0 Comments | AFP, April, 2008

KANO, Nigeria (AFP) — At least 116 female students in northern Nigeria have been hospitalized with cholera after consuming contaminated beans, a health official said Monday.

The affected students -- who attend a secondary boarding school in Gombe state -- started vomiting and passing stool hours after eating lunch, said Garba Sa'ad, permanent secretary in the Gombe state health ministry.

"Sixteen of the affected students have been discharged while the remaining 100 are responding to treatment", Sa'ad told AFP by telephone.

State authorities reacted by banning beans at all boarding schools, pending the outcome of laboratory tests of the contaminated beans by Nigeria's food and drug regulatory agency NAFDAC, Sa'ad said.

In 2006 over 200 male students...