Paul Osuyi, Asaba
Delta State Government yesterday said it has unraveled the cause of deaths of youths in three communities in Ika North-East Local Government Area of the state.
About 30 youths between the ages of 18 and 25 had succumbed to a strange disease ravaging Ute-Okpu, Ute-Erumu and Idumesa communities in the locality within the last three weeks.
The development jolted the state governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, who quickly ordered the state Ministry of Health to step in and unearth the cause of the strange disease. Addressing newsmen in Asaba, the state Commissioner for Health, Dr. Mordi Ononye, attributed the cause of the mystery deaths to yellow fever disease.
Ononye who was flanked by the Commissioner for Information, Charles Aniagwu and the state Director-General of Orientation Bureau, Eugene Uzum, said the laboratory result of the samples collected pointed to the age-long disease.
He quickly added however that the result would further be authenticated at the Reference Region Laboratory in Dakar, Senegal where the samples have also been sent.
“Samples were collected from patients and sent to the laboratory. We have received results and the results point to yellow fever as cause of deaths we heard in those areas. The result we have received is helping to move us to a more definitive action, while we still wait a final authentication from the Reference Regional Laboratory in Dakar,” Ononye said.