Nasarawa deploys health workers as five die of strange disease

The Nasarawa State Government has deployed health workers following the death of five children within 24 hours in the Gidinye community of Obi Local Government Area of Nasarawa State.

Gidinye, one of the communities in the Jenkwe Development Area of the local government area, houses thousands of able-bodied men and women including children.

Findings by PUNCH Metro on Wednesday revealed that the children, who were between the ages of five and 15, died after complaining of stomach aches, vomiting, and purging on Monday and Tuesday.

Confirming the incident in Lafia on Wednesday, the State Epidemiologist, Dr Grace Tsakpa, said healthcare workers had been deployed to the community to take samples of the surviving family members.

While noting that the results from the samples collected had yet to be released, Tsakpa explained that from her observations, the cause of their deaths could be related to food poisoning because the ailments started immediately after they finished eating their meal on the farm.

She said, “For now, we have taken samples from the other family members, but our suspicion is going towards food poisoning. This is because the incident happened after they ate food at the farm.

“The five children belong to two brothers. The family (parents and children) went to the farm, cooked there, and ate. It was on the farm that one of the children started complaining of abdominal pains, and he later died. The other four children also died after developing symptoms.”

The state epidemiologist further commiserated with the families for the untimely death of their children and assured them that she and her team would leave no stone unturned to unravel the actual cause of the children’s death.

Speaking to our correspondent on the incident, the Publicity Secretary of the Migili Youth Association, Samuel Akala, said the children had left home alongside their parents to their farms close to the Keana Local Government Area when they suddenly fell ill.

He appealed to the Nasarawa State Government and all the relevant authorities to swiftly look into the matter to contain the situation and save the lives of other children in the area.

He said, “We lost the five children in less than 24 hours in the same community. The children left home for the farm. While on the farm, one of them started complaining of stomach ache and started vomiting and purging at the same time.

“Within a short time, he began to have difficulty with his breathing, and when he was rushed home, he died. The other children had similar symptoms and died.

“The case is still on the increase and we have yet to discover the cause of their deaths.”

He said the circumstances that resulted in the sudden death of the children called for forensic findings and suggested that the Centre for Disease Control and the Primary Healthcare Development Agency should be invited to carry out disease surveillance in communities around Obi and Keana LGAs where there were reported cases of acute diarrhoea, vomiting, and death of children in the past few days.

While emphasising that the community was interested in knowing the actual causes of the untimely death of the five children, Akala appealed to the authorities to make haste in finding a solution to the matter to prevent the unknown disease from affecting a wide range of the populations in the area.