The
Nigerian government has
warned of a “strange epidemic” which has left 15 people dead and infected
dozens more in less than a week.
The
outbreak of the mysterious disease, which causes vomiting, swelling and
diarrhoea, was first recorded late last month in Benue State, southeast of the
capital Abuja. By 3 February,
“the number of persons affected with the strange endemic has risen to 104”,
said Nigerian senator Abba Moro, according to newspaper the Daily
Post.
In
a Senate resolution, Mr Moro, who represents a district in Benue State, named a
number of victims of the disease, who all allegedly died within 48 hours of
contracting the illness.
The
resolution urged the country’s health ministry to dispatch experts to the
centre of the outbreak to find out more about the disease.
It
also called for the Nigeria Centres for Disease Control (NCDC) to establish
surveillance measures to contain its spread, the Post reported.
Osagie
Ehanire, the health minister, said in a briefing on Friday the illness did not
appear to be Ebola or Lassa fever – two potentially fatal viruses which occur
in West Africa.
*Breeding with Neanderthals helped
humans fight diseases
On
migrating from Africa around 70,000 years ago, humans bumped into the Neanderthals of Eurasia. While humans were weak to the diseases of the new
lands, breeding with the resident Neanderthals made for a better equipped
immune system*.
Nor
did it appear to be the 2019 novel coronavirus, which originated in Wuhan China
and has so far killed more than 700 people.
Mr Ehanire
said the NCDC had now activated an emergency response operation in the affected
area – with government officials suspecting chemicals used in fishing may be
responsible for the sickness, according to the BBC.
He
advised Nigerians who may have witnessed cases of the illness to contact the
agency for free using the number 0800-970000-10.
The
NCDC has been contacted for comment. ENDS:
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