"Killer Disease Linked To Exhumed Corpse" - Ondo Comm. For Information

The Ondo State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Kayode Akinmande, has stated that the 14 deaths recorded in Ode Irele, Ondo state, emanated from a “strange” ailment and are directly connected to an exhumed corpse in the community. Speaking to a media organisation, Akinmade said the diseases was not the same as Ebola Virus Disease (EVD), although it had managed to kill its victims in less than 24 hours.

“The symptoms were not that of Ebola; it’s a 24-hour attack that would make the victim to have headache, be unconscious, then after 24 hours, the person is gone. That one cannot be Ebola. All the necessary facility that government should provide, government has done that. We have moved all the ambulances and everything.” 

Akinmade also added that although there were claims that as many as 34 people had died, only 14 people had fallen victim of the strange disease.

“Available data do not indicate that 34 people have died – only 14,”he said. “And from what we got, the 14 had personal contacts with those people who came to exhume the corpse that led to this epidemic.” 

He added that the state commissioner for health, Dayo Akinyanju would “in the next couple of hours, make a state wide broadcast” to update Nigerians on the state of the disease. The disease is characterised with headache in victims, then loss of sight, and finally death, all in a few hours.

The state government has said it is using equipment bought for the prevention and control of Ebola virus disease in the state to isolate the victims and control the unknown outbreak. Samples from the victims have been collected and sent to laboratories for investigation, with the World Health Organisation (WHO) already in the know.

Culled from: Daily Times