A mysterious disease that caused at least 18 deaths in Ode-Irele town in South Western Nigeria last week has now been ruled as pesticide poisoning by the World Health Organization (WHO).
WHO’s spokesman Gregory Hartl said that the current hypothesis that the cause of the unfortunate incident was herbicides. The hypothesis was formulated after the test done tested negative for both viral and bacterial infections.
The ‘mysterious disease’ had caused fears in the already Ebola infested region. The victims showed symptoms like headaches, weight loss, blurred vision and loss of consciousness and victims died within a day of showing symptoms.
The Ondo State health commissioner, Dayo Adeyanju confirmed that at least 23 people were affected by the mysterious disease. The response by government health officials, aid agencies’ experts as well as the WHO epidemiologists was very prompt to investigate with fear of another epidemic in the region. Test were carried out at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital.
The source of the pesticide has not been established and investigations are ongoing to determine the same.
