Angela Onwuzoo
As the cholera outbreak spreads to 30 states with no fewer than 30 deaths, nutrition and public health experts have advised Nigerians to desist from the habit of consuming unwashed fruits and vegetables.
They warned that such an unhygienic practice could expose them to the risk of coming down with cholera, stressing that the killer disease spreads through contaminated food or drinking water, or from person to person as a result of poor hygiene.
They noted that following the cholera outbreaks, people should as much as possible wash their fruits and vegetables very well under running water so that they don’t get contaminated by bacteria that are all over the environment.
The Lagos State Ministry of Health, on Saturday, confirmed 350 suspected cases of cholera in 29 wards across multiple LGAs in the state, with 17 confirmed cases and 15 deaths.
Already, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday said Nigeria recorded 65 confirmed cases of cholera with 30 deaths from 1 January to 11 June, across 96 local governments in 30 states.
Cholera is a highly contagious food and water-borne disease that spreads through direct transmission by eating or drinking contaminated food or water, and indirect transmission due to poor sanitation and lack of handwashing.
Symptoms of cholera include acute, painless watery diarrhea of sudden onset, with or without vomiting. It may be associated with nausea, profuse vomiting, and fever.
According to the NCDC, severe cases can lead to death within hours due to dehydration, however, about 80 per cent of people may only show mild symptoms or have no symptoms at all.
NCDC noted that the disease is easily treatable if detected early and most infected people can be treated successfully through prompt administration of oral rehydration solution, to replace lost fluids and electrolytes, and appropriate antibiotics.
A renowned nutritionist and President of the Federation of African Nutrition Societies, Professor Ngozi Nnam, told PUNCH HealthWise in an exclusive interview that unsafe food creates a vicious circle of diseases such as cholera.
Nnam, a professor of Community and Public Health Nutrition at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, said one of the reasons why food is not utilised in the body is because it’s not safe.
She stated that for food to be safe, it must be free from physical, chemical, and biological contamination during storage, processing, transportation, preparation, and other processes in food.
Food, she said, could be contaminated by pathogens like bacteria, fungus as well as rodents, and insecticides, among others.
The don pointed out that the contamination will result in diseases like cholera and diarrhoea adding that diarrhoea is responsible for regular hospital visits of children under five.
Nnam said people should properly wash their fruits and vegetables generally before eating them, stressing that they may have been contaminated in the harvesting and handling period.
“Flies could have perched on the fruits when they dropped on the ground as they were harvesting them.
” What this calls for is that whenever you buy fruits and vegetables, you need to wash them thoroughly under a running tap so that you can remove all these bacteria that have been deposited on them.
“You can use salt to wash them because salt can destabilize those bacteria”, the nutritionist said
According to her, vegetables must be washed thoroughly under running water because while they were on the farm, they may have been contaminated by insect larvae.
She noted that the running water would help wash off the lava.
Continuing, Nnam said, “When we don’t eat our fruits and vegetables well that leads to diarrhoea and loss of nutrients we could have obtained.
“And you know that fruits and vegetables are very good sources of many of the vitamins. Many of the vitamins have antioxidant properties and they help to boost our immune system.
” If you lose those vitamins from your fruits and vegetables, you are weakening your immune system and exposing the body to oxidative stress.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the safest fruits and vegetables are cooked; the next safest is washed.
“Avoid unwashed fresh produce.
Eating fresh produce provides important health benefits, but sometimes raw fruits and vegetables may cause food poisoning from harmful germs such as Salmonella, E. coli, and Listeria.
” Fresh fruits and vegetables can be contaminated anywhere along the journey from farm to table, including by cross-contamination in the kitchen external icon”, the CDC said.
On his part, a family physician, Dr Jide Onyekwelu, said people should avoid consuming water from unsafe sources.
Onyekwelu who is the immediate past Secretary-General of the Nigerian Medical Association explained that drinking from unsafe water sources would lead to further outbreaks of cholera and gastrointestinal infections.
He urged the government to make clean water available for Nigerians to curb the cholera outbreaks.
“We are going to witness more outbreaks of these diseases if the masses are unable to have access to affordable drinking water and there is no universal health coverage in the country.
“If people can’t afford the price of sachet water, how will they be able to pay for care when they come down with these waterborne diseases”, he said.
He also pointed out that contaminated foods pose a threat to the health and well-being of people especially children while urging Nigerians to pay better attention to food safety.
On prevention, NCDC further noted that cholera can be prevented by ensuring access to safe, potable drinking water; proper sanitation and waste disposal; and appropriate hygiene including handwashing.
It noted that raw fruits and vegetables, food from street vendors, and raw or undercooked seafood should be avoided.
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