Mysterious sickness claims 11 lives in Oyo communities, five hospitalised

No fewer than 11 persons have died while five are receiving medical attention from strange illness in Lagelu Area of Oyo State.

While some are attributing the symptoms from the victims to cholera, the government said the illness has not been established because samples taken from the victims have not arrived

A source, who resides in the area, explained the strange illness suspected to be cholera outbreak was first recorded at Ariku village in Lagelu area of the state with five persons killed.

He said the illness later spread to Lagun village where six persons died from complications from the same strange illness.

Another unconfirmed source said the outbreak first occurred about four weeks ago at Ariku village in ward 4 but eventually spread into Lagun village in ward 6, two weeks ago.

Caretaker Chairman, Lagelu local government, Kelani Abdullahi, explained part of the immediate action taken by the government was to investigate the cause of the illness suspected to be cholera.

He said initial investigation showed it could be due to lack of access to clean and potable water by the affected persons.

Commissioner of Health, Dr Bashir Bello, said the tests carried out on the affected persons in the area were still premature and the samples collected have not confirmed to be cholera.

He however added the surveillance and health officers sent to the local government to take samples and access the situation reported the poor unhygienic and dirty environment of the victims, saying the factor could have exposed them to all sorts of illness and infections.

Bello said the infected persons have been hospitalized and are all responding to treatment.

He called for calm, assuring the state government was on top of the situation.

Lawmaker of Lagelu State constituency Akintunde Olajide, in company of the council and LCDA chairmen, visited the villages where the outbreak occurred.

Olajide also confirmed a preliminary investigation into the cause of the illness was due largely to lack of access to clean and potable water.

He maintained all the boreholes that could provide clean water to the area were dilapidated, with residents resorting to fetching water from a nearby stream and few available wells.

The lawmaker said he had ordered the immediate repairs of three boreholes out of the four in the area to bridge the water supply deficits in the area.

He explained that even though four people were hospitalised, one had been discharged and the other three were responding well to treatment. (The Nation)