FG: Ondo Deaths Likely Caused by Herbicides

Our monitoring team remains on alert, says Ogun govt

The Federal Government has said deaths claimed to have resulted from an unknown disease in Irele Local Government Area of Ondo State may have been caused by poisoning from herbicides used in the area.

Following this development, Ogun State monitoring response team has maintained close contact with Ondo State authorities to forestall a contagion effect on the people of its state.

Project Director of the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Prof. Abdulrahman Nasidi, while speaking with THISDAY assured Nigerians that the medical team on ground in Ondo State would continue to monitor the situation so as to tackle the health crisis.

"Our team is on the ground, what we are getting is that the deaths is likely to be from herbicides," he said.

Nasidi debunked claims that the cause of the deaths might not be unconnected with some deity in the locality.

According to him, while government was not against people having such claims, the medical team was more focused on diagnosing the problem through clinical means.

He further assured on government’s readiness to find a lasting solution to the health crisis in Irele.

Ogun State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Olaokun Soyinka, in a statement made available to THISDAY in Abeokuta yesterday said based on the information available, the state government had put on alert all our disease surveillance teams.

According to him, "in particular, we are monitoring Ogun Waterside Local Government Area closely and are sensitising our border communities to reduce cross-border movements to Ondo State for now.

"Further blood tests are being carried out on collected samples, to ascertain if the deaths have been caused by ingested poisons or other infectious agents.

"Given recent outbreaks, we are aware that the members of the general public may be worried. However, we wish to assure the people of Ogun State that there is no immediate cause for concern.

"The Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun had enhanced the capability of the Ogun State disease surveillance team during the ebola outbreak and now the rapid response teams have been put on full alert on the order of the Governor.

Olaokun therefore informed people of the state that there were no similar unexplained deaths in the state, stating that the characteristics of the outbreak in Ondo State were not suggestive of a highly infectious disease.

He said: "The cause of the recent unexplained cluster of deaths which affected Ode-Irele township and Ayadi Community in Irele LGA, Ondo state is yet to be explained, but recently released laboratory results have ruled out fatal infectious diseases such as Lassa fever and Ebola haemorrhagic fever."

The commissioner added: "Early reports confirmed 13 individuals have died. The symptoms common to the individuals who died were sudden onset of blurred or lost vision, headache, loss of consciousness followed by death, all occurring within 24 hours.”

He disclosed that experts were deployed early to the sites in Ondo State to collect samples and evaluate the outbreak.

He noted that a full history of each case had been documented, stressing that so far, the outbreak seemed to be limited in range and no spread had been reported.

He advised that until the nature of the illness was fully ascertained, people of the state should to avoid traveling to the affected areas.