The Lagos State government has attributed the outbreak of cholera in the state to unregistered tigernut drinks.
This was disclosed by the Special Adviser to the state governor on Health, Kemi Ogunyemi, who said the government conducted a direct assessment of the Eti-Osa LGA after noticing a rise in suspected cholera cases in the area.
According to Ogunyemi the survey indicated a common factor was a tiger nut drink being sold while noting it was not registered with the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).
Furthermore, she said the authorities were sent out to locate the drink to test the samples for cholera.
However, “We found empty bottles with a name on them, but we discovered that it wasn’t even registered with the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), the regulatory body that ensures the safety of consumables.
“There was a phone number and a name on the bottle, and we started tracing. We did contact tracing, similar to what we did with COVID-19.
“We combed the area to ask people where they got the drinks from. We couldn’t find any full bottles. We only found empty ones, which were of no use because we could not test them. The phone number on the bottle was not reachable,” she explained.
Cholera is a highly contagious food and water-borne disease. It spreads through direct transmission by eating or drinking contaminated food or water and indirect transmission due to poor sanitation and lack of hand washing.
Symptoms of cholera include acute, painless, watery diarrhoea of sudden onset, with or without vomiting. It may be associated with nausea, profuse vomiting and fever.
Cholera can cause severe acute watery diarrhoea which can kill within hours if left untreated.
Alleluia is the Assistant Editor and Content Writer at LagosPost.ng. She is a prolific writer and editor, she has written features and news stories on Lifestyle, Sports, Business, Politics and B2B marketing. She is also an event coordinator, host and social media content creator.
