A “mysterious” disease has killed 18 people in southwestern Nigeria since the start of last week. They succumbed suddenly to the disease after 24 hours, after suffering from headaches, loss of consciousness, weight loss and visual disturbances.
If the first tests carried out did not make it possible to establish the proven cause of this disease, the trail of contamination with the virus Ebola has been ruled out. A spokesman for the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that samples of bodily fluids had been sent on Saturday to the teaching hospital in Lagos (one of the largest cities in Nigeria) and that analyzes were in progress.
This Sunday, April 19, Gregory Hartl, a spokesperson for theWHOsaid in a tweet that the preferred cause was that of herbicides, without giving more information on the mode of poisoning.
But from this Monday, April 20, another track is mentioned: that of poisoning with ethanol contained in a homemade gin, according to the local health authorities.
“We strongly suspect ethanol poisoning and therefore we have ordered further toxicology tests on the survivors,” Ondo state public health official Dayo Adeyanju told AFP. “Our investigation revealed that five of the victims had ingested a craft gin mixed with herbs. Three of them are dead and the other two are under observation,” said Adeyanju.
A total of 23 people were poisoned early last week, 18 of whom died, in the town of Ode-Irele.
The spokesperson for the Nigerien government wanted to reassure the populations: he thus assured that no other case had been observed apart from the 18 deaths recorded for 72 hours, and that the disease had not spread. beyond the city.
After the Ebola epidemic, this “mysterious” disease evolving very quickly caused some concern. Hemorrhagic fever caused by the Ebola virus had in fact caused the death of more than 10,600 people, mainly in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. the Nigeria had instead been spared the virus.
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