Strange disease: Kogi govt denies in death toll

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8 years ago

THE Kogi State government has said it was not true that the death toll on the strange disease that broke out in some villages of Yagba west local government area had risen to 62.

The state commissioner for health, Dr Saka Audu, who said this also added that 39 patients were evacuated from the communities to the state specialist hospital, Lokoja.

According to him, out of the 39 patients, only six were admitted as a result of vomiting and stooling, adding that the patients were responding to treatment.

The commissioner disclosed that the epidermic started six weeks ago at Okunran, Okoloke and Isanlu-Esa all in Yagba West local government area in the western senatorial district of the state.

Speaking on the 62 persons allegedly killed by the disease, the commissioner who dispelled news, said it was the initial information given by the Fulani leader in the villages.

He noted that the disease was not a case of Lassa fever as laboratory tests carried out on the patients by medical experts drafted to the community proved negative.

He said “Honestly, we have decided to carry out the ideal findings, so that we can come up with the actual figure of deaths. We will investigate and trace the dead people to the grave yard and come up with the correct figure.

“We want to assure the general public that government is doing all that is humanly possible to stay on top of the situation and forestall further loss of lives. We will continue to inform the public as the investigation progresses.”

Also speaking, the state epidemiologist, Dr Francis Akpa, said anytime there was an outbreak of disease, the first thing to do was to find out where the patients went to and carry out tests on them.

He said that the information they got from their disease surveillance system was that one of the three patients brought to ECWA hospital in Egbe, was suspected to have Lassa fever, but when sample was taken to Irua hospital in Edo State, the result was negative, saying it lowered their suspicion of Lassa fever.

He added that the claim by the Fulani leaders in the villages about the death toll cannot be taken to be correct until the medical personnel in the state carry out the empirical assessment to have a conclusive prove and figure of the number of deaths recorded.