The death toll as a result of the meningitis epidemic in Sokoto State has now risen to 21.

The State Health Commissioner, Balarabe Kakale, confirmed in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria, “They were deployed across the 23 local governments of the state, fully equipped with ambulances and provided with free drugs, as well as medicament”.

The commissioner said there were some “imported cases” from Koko in Kebbi State, which compounded the epidemic, that traditional belief in witchcraft was making fighting the disease difficult, with some families refusing to take their suspected patients to the hospitals.

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