A cholera outbreak has killed four children in northern Nigeria's Kaduna State, and 25 other people have been hospitalised in the past three days, a senior health official said.
Aminu Sabo, the health director in the Chikun region of the state, told Radio Nigeria on Saturday that the disease was caused by drinking contaminated and untreated water.
He said residents of the affected area had resorted to the open wells as a source of drinking water after their taps went dry for weeks.
He said the government had sent medical personnel and drugs to the affected area while the open wells were being treated.
Cholera is an acute intestinal infection caused by consuming food or water contaminated with the cholera bacteria. If not treated immediately it can cause rapid loss of body fluids and can be fatal.