Police clinic records 691 cases in Minna

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April 27, 2017 4:53 PM

Dr Ekaete Umoh, a medical officer in the clinic, made this known to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Minna on Thursday.‎

A mosquito-borne disease, malaria killed 429,000 people in 2015, 92 percent of them in Africa

The Police Clinic in Minna says it recorded 691 cases of malaria from January to date. ‎

Umoh, however, said that most of the malaria cases were from children under the age of five.‎

“I can confirm to you that out of these 691 cases of malaria, 560 of the cases were children under the age of five."

“The mothers of the affected children come here to give us excuses of not using the treated mosquito nets because of the heat."

“I tell you, prevention is better than cure and all and sundry, high and low should key into the ‘Net therapy’."

“Net on the doors and windows are not enough to tackle mosquitoes, but treated mosquito nets should be used during sleep for the children and adults,” she said.

According to her, less spending is involved in the prevention of malaria than in its cure.

“Prevention is key. Everyone should take prevention seriously, because mosquito infects the Red Blood Cells and when they are destroyed, one gets pale."

“This in turn can result to anaemia and this can lead to heart failure,” she said.

Umoh expressed dismay that anti-malarial drugs are building resistance to some of the users as a result of drug abuse.

“Now what we are experiencing is that there is resistance of anti-malarial drugs, ‎because most people are abusing it,” she said.‎

According to the medical doctor, Artemisinin-based Combination Therapies (ACTs) for the treatment of malaria are the most abused.

“Malaria gets accustomed to patients who abuse malaria drugs and resists most times treatment seeking to cure the disease by the patients,” she said.

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