Benue closes school As 5 students suffer strange ailment

Govt orders closure of school

A strange disease identified by health specialists as “Orepa syndrome” has wrecked havoc in a secondary school in Benue State known as Vaatia College and paralyzed five students.
As a result of the disease, the state government has ordered the school to be shut down to avoid its spread.

Already, the school’s authority had sent notice to parents and guardians to come and evacuate their children and wards.
The affected students hit with the strange illness have been hospitalized at the Benue University Teaching and Madonna Hospitals all in Makurdi.

When New Telegraph visited the school Tuesday it was observed that some parents and guardians were seen picking up their children and wards.Efforts to speak with the management of the school failed as some of the staff seen were said to be in a meeting.

The state’s Commissioner for Health and Human Services, Dr. Joseph Ngbea, who spoke to our correspondent, said that five students of the school were hit by the strange illness.
The commissioner described the strange illness as ‘Orepa syndrome” saying that that the students experienced paralysis. (New Telegraph)