Rose Ejembi Makurdi
The death toll has risen to 20 following a strange illness that hit Epeilo-Otukpa community of Ogbadibo Local Government Area of Benue State, the state government has said.
Recall that the state Ministry of Health and Human Services had on Tuesday, raised an alarm over the outbreak of a strange illness in the community saying that 17 people had so far died while many others were taking treatment in different hospitals across the state.
Speaking on telephone with journalists, State Epidemiologist, Dr. Sam Ngishe, who confirmed three more death, said 19 men and one lady between the ages of 7 to 40 had died from the ailment.
Ngishe noted that already, samples had been collected from the victims and taken for laboratory analysis to ascertain the actual cause of the illness.
“All together, there have been 20 deaths and the state Ministry of Health is in the location and we have been able to move victims to different hospitals. We have collected samples and sent to the National Reference Laboratory to be able to establish the kind of organism that is causing the problem,” Ngishe said.
While noting the suspicion of the Ministry of Health that the strange illness could be yellow fever, Ngishe regretted that members of the community were of the strong belief that their gods may have brought the sickness upon them.