Nigeria Reports 359 Cholera Deaths in First Nine Months of Year

FILE PHOTO: A health worker at the Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF - Doctors without Borders) Cholera Treatment Center, checks intravenous fluid for a newly arrived cholera patient Ali Bakura, 3, in Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria October 18, 2022. REUTERS/Christophe Van Der Perre/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A health worker at the Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF - Doctors without Borders) Cholera Treatment Center, checks intravenous fluid for a newly arrived cholera patient Ali Bakura, 3, in Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria October 18, 2022. REUTERS/Christophe Van Der Perre/File Photo
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Nigeria Reports 359 Cholera Deaths in First Nine Months of Year

FILE PHOTO: A health worker at the Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF - Doctors without Borders) Cholera Treatment Center, checks intravenous fluid for a newly arrived cholera patient Ali Bakura, 3, in Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria October 18, 2022. REUTERS/Christophe Van Der Perre/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A health worker at the Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF - Doctors without Borders) Cholera Treatment Center, checks intravenous fluid for a newly arrived cholera patient Ali Bakura, 3, in Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria October 18, 2022. REUTERS/Christophe Van Der Perre/File Photo

More than 350 people have died from cholera in Nigeria in the first nine months of this year, a 239% jump from the same period last year, data from the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) showed on Monday.
Cholera, a water-borne disease, is not uncommon in Nigeria where health authorities say there is a lack of potable drinking water in rural areas and urban slums, reported Reuters.
NCDC said 359 people had died between January and September compared to 106 during the same period last year.
The number of suspected cholera cases also surged to 10,837, up from 3,387 the previous year, with most of those affected being children under five years old.
Lagos, the country's commercial capital, recorded the highest number of cases, NCDC said.
Authorities in northeastern Borno said on Friday that a cholera outbreak had hit the state, which is also dealing with flooding that has displaced nearly 2 million people.



Commander of Iran’s Quds Force Is ‘In Good Health’, Force’s Deputy Commander Says

Brigadier General Esmail Qaani, the head of the Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force, speaks during a ceremony marking the anniversary of the death of senior Iranian military commander Mohammad Hejazi, in Tehran, Iran April 14, 2022. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
Brigadier General Esmail Qaani, the head of the Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force, speaks during a ceremony marking the anniversary of the death of senior Iranian military commander Mohammad Hejazi, in Tehran, Iran April 14, 2022. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
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Commander of Iran’s Quds Force Is ‘In Good Health’, Force’s Deputy Commander Says

Brigadier General Esmail Qaani, the head of the Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force, speaks during a ceremony marking the anniversary of the death of senior Iranian military commander Mohammad Hejazi, in Tehran, Iran April 14, 2022. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
Brigadier General Esmail Qaani, the head of the Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force, speaks during a ceremony marking the anniversary of the death of senior Iranian military commander Mohammad Hejazi, in Tehran, Iran April 14, 2022. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters

The top commander of Iran's Quds Force Esmail Qaani is in "good health", the force's deputy commander Iraj Masjedi said on Monday, after Iranian security sources told Reuters he had been out of contact since strikes on Beirut last week.

"He is in good health and is carrying out his activities. Some ask us to issue a statement... there is no need for this", Masjedi was quoted as saying by state media in reference to Qaani.

One of the officials speaking to Reuters said Qaani was in Beirut's southern suburbs, known as the Dahiyeh, during a strike last week that was reported to have targeted senior Hezbollah official Hashem Safieddine. The official said he was not meeting Safieddine.

Israel has been hitting multiple targets in Dahiyeh as it pursues a campaign against Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah.

Tehran named Qaani the head of the Revolutionary Guards Corps' overseas military-intelligence service after the United States assassinated his powerful predecessor Qassem Soleimani in a drone strike in Baghdad in 2020.

The Quds Force heavily influences its allied armed groups across the Middle East.