Strange disease in Irele not contagious, says Ondo govt

The Ondo State Government has assured that a strange disease that has killed some peo­ple since its outbreak on April 15 in Ode-Irele, in Irele Local Government Area of the state, was not contagious.

Addressing journalists in Akure yesterday, the state Commissioner for Health, Dr. Dayo Adey­anju, said findings from post-mortem carried out on the victims and other laboratory tests revealed that the disease was nei­ther epidemic nor conta­gious.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the commissioner’s pre­liminary report showed that ethanol poison was found in the systems of all the victims.

“Our investigations re­vealed that the victims, who are commercial mo­torcyclists, gathered at some local joints to take alcoholic substance mixed with roots and some other local herbs on the eve of the outbreak of the dis­ease. “I can assure you that the disease is in no way contagious. The fact that none of the caregivers has contracted the disease has greatly underscored this point.

“Therefore, the fear of spread does not arise and should be discouraged.

“We strongly suspect ethanol poison and in view of this, we have ordered for another toxicology test for surviving victims,’’ Adeyanju said.

The commissioner, who said there had been no re­port of new cases in the last three days, explained that 23 people were affect­ed out of which 18 people died of the disease.

He stated that the five survivors, who had gone blind, had been referred to the University Teach­ing Hospital, Ibadan, for further examination and monitoring.

Adeyanju, insisted that he would not join is­sues with traditionalists, who believe that the out­break of the disease was due to some angry gods in shrines, where some youths allegedly stole some artefacts.

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