Strange disease claims 18 in Ondo

The state Commissioner for Health, Dr Dayo Adeyanju, however said 14 persons were confirmed dead while four others were being given isolated treatment.
 Adeyanju told newsmen in Akure yesterday that two out of the four persons receiving isolated treatment at the General Hospital had died.
 According to the commissioner, the presentation from the investigations carried out on the victims did not reveal symptoms of Ebola but the state government had moved into the area to curtail spread of the disease.
He said preliminary reports showed that victims complained of headache and later loss of sight before they finally gave up.
Noting that it was not a case of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD), Adeyanju said there were no cases of diarrhoea, vomiting and haemorrhage that are usual symptoms of Ebola.
The commissioner, who assured that government would do everything possible to control the strange ailment, said the World Health Organisation (WHO) and other partners were already involved in the matter.
He said samples taken from the victims had been sent to Lagos for proper investigation.
Adeyanju said because the source of the disease had not been known, government had been engaging in advocacy to ensure that new cases are reported, adding that concealment could be devastating.
He warned relations of victims against burying corpses of affected people at home, saying they should bury the dead  at cemetery and be very careful during burials.
Adeyanju said the state’s disease surveillance team and volunteers that were engaged during the Ebola cases had been deployed to the area to control the ailment.
He also disclosed that the personal protective equipment purchased by the government for Ebola cases had been deployed to the area with the handlers.
A leading medical practitioner in Akure, Dr Ige Ogunleye, said it was too soon to talk about the disease until more facts were uncovered concerning it.
Meanwhile Daily Trust gathered that the dead persons may have fallen victim of a particular shrine popularly known as” malokun” located in the area.
But the  possibility of a spiritual source of the endemic was disregarded by the ministry and a member of the Ondo State Hospital Management
Board, Femi Okunjemiruwa.
Daily Trust further gathered from locals  that some young men went to steal items from the Malokun Shrine, the traditional deity of the Ikale-speaking people of Irele, which they hold in high esteem because of its power and myths.
 The items said to have been stole were according to sources sold to some unidentified foreigners.
It also gathered that those who died were those who directly went to defile the shrine, all those who aided and abetted the crime, all those who had contact with them; perhaps, sharing or receiving the proceeds of such illicit transactions from the white men whom they sold those mystical items to for monetary reasons.
Attempts to reach the Olofun of Irele, Oba Olarewaju Lebi, who is the chief custodian of the people’s culture, proved abortive as at the time of filing this report.