Sokoto govt probes dying of seven members of household

The federal government of Sokoto State, North-west Nigeria, has mentioned it has ordered investigations into the dying of seven members of a household in a rural neighborhood within the state.

The state’s Ministry of Well being mentioned the deceased had reportedly died after consuming meals created from cassava.

The federal government mentioned samples of the meal, cooking utensils and substances have been collected and despatched to the state’s workplace of the Nationwide Company for Meals and Drug Administration and Management (NAFDAC) for onward switch of the gadgets to the regulatory company’s laboratory in Kaduna state for testing.

The state’s Epidemiologist, Nuhu Dogodaji, disclosed this to PREMIUM TIMES over the phone on Monday.

Mr Dogodaji mentioned the ministry additionally took blood samples of members of the family who ate the meal however didn’t expertise meals poisoning and can be transferring them to the Nationwide Centre for Illness Management (NCDC).

“We have now collected all of the samples we have to run a check. We took blood samples from members of the family who had been alive. Took a bit of the soup, which was already dry by the point we did. We took the pot and the spoon. We additionally went to a farm the place they plucked the leaves and took some for the check,” he mentioned.

Backstory

PREMIUM TIMES learnt that the household suffered meals poisoning after consuming Dambu and Lalo, an area delicacies created from cassava and greens, for dinner.

Confirming the incident, the ministry’s info officer, Nura Bello, mentioned the cassava from which the meal was made was bought in bulk and shared between 4 households who consumed it however didn’t undergo an identical destiny.

He mentioned following the incident; the ministry visited the village to evaluate the reason for the incident for onward communication to the state authorities for mandatory motion.

The Commissioner for Well being, Asabe Balarabe, had requested for samples from one teenager who occurred to be alive after consuming the suspected meal.

Talking on this, Mr Dogodaji advised PREMIUM TIMES that the household started falling sick a number of hours after consuming, and earlier than daybreak the subsequent day, the mom, Aishatu Abubakar, and one youngster had died.

He narrated that the kids who survived the night time had been rushed to a close-by Main Well being Care centre, whereas the daddy was taken to the Sokoto Instructing Hospital. Nevertheless, they didn’t reply to medical therapy and died within the hospital mattress.

“Out of a household of 12, solely 5 are alive at the moment. The daddy, mom and 5 youngsters died because of the poisoning. They began feeling the discomfort at about 7 pm, and the primary youngster died three hours later.

“The mom died at 5 am the subsequent morning, and the remainder of them died at well being services as a result of they weren’t responding to therapy,” he added.

Mr Dogodaji additionally mentioned preliminary findings confirmed that the contamination was from the substances used to arrange the vegetable Lalo soup relatively than the beforehand posited cassava.

He mentioned three different members of the family who consumed the identical cassava however with totally different soups weren’t affected by the poisoning.