A mysterious disease sweeping through Oyo state, in southwest Nigeria, has killed 11persons and has sowed fear and panic among the populace.
The disease, which is believed to be either cholera or yellow fever, has also recently claimed many lives in other parts of the country, including Delta and Enugu states, located in Nigeria’s South-South and South-West, respectively, according to the Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC).
On its part, the Oyo state government has stated that results of samples it has taken from victims of the outbreak for testing are still being awaited, stressing that the real cause of the strange illness could not be ascertained until those results are received.
Residents of the affected community revealed that the first case of the disease outbreak was registered at Ariku village located in the Lagelu local government area of the state. Five persons are believed to have lost their lives to the outbreak in that area. Six other persons are believed to have lost their lives to the disease in Lagun village, also in the same Lagelu local government area.
According to the Chairman of the Caretaker Chairman of Lagelu Local Government Area, Mr. Kelani Abdullahi, the source of the outbreak was being investigated.
Said Abdullahi: “So far, 11 persons have lost their lives to the epidemic, with five persons hospitalised while four persons have been discharged.”
Also speaking on the outbreak, the Commissioner for Health in the state, Dr Bashiru Bello, announced that tests carried out on the affected persons are still premature and the samples collected have not confirmed the sickness to be cholera in that instance.
He said surveillance and health officers sent to the local government to take samples and assess the situation reported the poor unhygienic condition and the dirty environment in the area.
The lawmaker representing Lagelu State Constituency in the Oyo State House of Assembly, Mr. Akintunde Olajide, confirmed that a preliminary investigation into the cause of the sickness revealed that it was largely due to lack of access to clean and potable water.
The lawmaker said he had ordered the immediate repair of three of the four boreholes in the communities, to give them access to a hygienic water source.
It will be recalled that earlier this month, the NCDC was notified by the State Ministries of Health in Delta and Enugu States respectively of cases where the victims presented with symptoms indicative of a viral haemorrhagic fever. Most of the victims in those two states presented with fever, headache, fatigue, jaundice vomiting (with or without blood) among others.
On November 6, three samples from Delta and one sample from Enugu taken from victims of the disease outbreak tested positive for yellow fever at Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital Laboratory and at the NCDC’s National Reference Laboratory, Gaduwa. More samples are being tested from both states to confirm the causative organism of this outbreak.
Yellow fever is a vaccine-preventable disease, and a single shot provides immunity for a lifetime. Symptoms of the disease include yellowness of the eyes, sudden fever, headache and body pain. The yellow fever vaccine is available for free in primary health care centres in Nigeria as part of the national childhood routine immunization schedule. The yellow fever virus is spread through the bite of an infected mosquito, from the aedes or haemagogus species.