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Ondo, Nigeria: 27 die of unidentified disease - methanol poisoning confirmed; 68 additional fatalities reported from Rivers State

Symptoms Of Ode-Irele Disease Not Similar To Ebola ? Mimiko

Channels Television.
Updated April 17, 2015

The Ondo State Governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko, has disclosed that the symptoms observed in Ode-Irele, where a strange ailment broke out, bear no resemblance to those associated with the Ebola Virus Disease or any known epidemic disease.

Governor Mimiko made the statement during a statewide broadcast on the strange ailment which has killed about 17 people in the last few days.
...
There are no new cases of the ailment in the last 48 hours and none in the hospital.
...
Governor Mimiko further said that the final laboratory results of cerebro spinal fluid, blood and urine specimens of victims taken for examination are being awaited...
...

http://www.channelstv.com/2015/04/17/symptoms-of-ode-irele-disease-not-similar-to-ebola-mimiko/
 
If tests are not turning up an infectious cause, they should be testing for toxins.

http://dailypost.ng/2015/04/17/irele...spirit-photos/

Irele mysterious deaths: Community begins spiritual cleansing to appeal Malokun spirit [PHOTOS]
By Abiodun Badejo on April 17, 2015

As the strange ailment ravaging Irele Community in Ondo State continues, series of laboratory tests carried out by medical expects have shown that there was no viral infection known to science.
Already, the death toll has risen to 17 according to the State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Dayo Adeyanju.

[snip]

Also, in a statement personally issued and signed by the State governor, Olusegun Mimiko, confirmed that the laboratory tests conducted does not reveal the cause of the death of the people.
 
Bizarre article. This reports cases of the mystery disease in other states, but then later says those cases are suspected to be Lassa (which is indeed endemic in Nigeria). So are they saying they think the mystery disease is Lassa too? The symptoms aren't a great match, and the timing seems very wrong, and I suspect the tests that came back negative would have included testing for Lassa.

Note also that the symptoms in the new "cases" don't match the original ones above:

http://www.tribune.com.ng/news/top-s...s-to-ekiti-oyo
 
alert said:
That's a very odd report. It seems to have pieces of the reports of the various acts of "witchcraft" reported yesterday. A similar report is also here:

http://allafrica.com/stories/201504171509.html

I wonder if the correct translation for "witchcraft" should not be something more like "deliberate poisoning" in that case....
...
Click to expand...

Ronan Kelly said:
Demystifying The Mysterious Disease In Ondo State: No Cause For Alarm! By Dr. Soyombo Ayomikun
From our interaction with the medical team in the hospital, there is speculation that a seed (yet to be identified) probably consumed by the victims could have resulted in symptoms indicative of poisoning.
BY DR. SOYOMBO AYOMIKUNAPR 17, 2015
...
...
http://saharareporters.com/2015/04/...ondo-state-no-cause-alarm-dr-soyombo-ayomikun
Click to expand...


[h=1]Big, Bad Botany: Calabar Bean (Physostigma venenosum), the Lie Detector[/h] Slate?s animal blog. Aug. 22 2014 7:52 AM
By Michael Largo

...
Numerous West African tribes depended on the Calaber bean, also renowned as ordeal bean or lie detector bean, for rulings in their early courts. These tribes used the power of the beans (really highly poisonous seeds) to detect witches and people possessed by evil spirits. Judicators would feed numerous seeds, what they called ?ordeal poison,? to the accused...
Click to expand...
 
Here's another version of what happened. This does not sound consistent with much of what was reported above, either in symptoms, timing, case counts, or cause:

http://sunnewsonline.com/new/?p=115196

The state Commissioner for Information, Hon Kayo*de Akinmade in a statement issued yesterday, said preliminary investigation into the deaths recorded in the town indicates that somebody died as a result of an alleged offence committed against Aiyelala, a god and was buried as a rite, near the shrine of the god worshiped in the community.

According to him, ?four persons said to have gone to exhume the corpse to enable them cut off the head for money ritual were reported to have also died mysteriously after complaining about blurred vision and headache.?

Akinmade said however that, other two deaths recorded in the community after the initial ones have not been linked with the initial five.

He noted that there are similarities in the symptoms leading to the death of the deceased, adding that their deaths might not be unconnected with a disease but with no link with the Ebola Virus.
 
[h=2]Strange disease ravages Ondo community; 28 dead[/h] April 16, 2015Premium Times

...
Ebola Alert, an evidence-driven group of volunteer professionals who helped with the Ebola Virus Disease interventions in the country, said 28 people have died from the disease.
But the State Health Commissioner, Dayo Adeyanju, put the number of dead victims at 12.
Mr. Adeyanju, while briefing newsmen in Akure, said preliminary investigations showed that the disease is not Ebola ?as it does not manifest any of its symptoms, but it attacks the central nervous system of the victims?.
Click to expand...

Calabar seed is a nerve poison.
 
http://www.nigerianbulletin.com/thr...d-the-results-are-even-more-troubling.110502/

Premium Times confirms that laboratory tests have been carried out on the strange disease in Ode-Irele community in Ondo state, (now called #OndoX).

Among other things, the results say this disease is definitely not Ebola.

Ebola Alert has sent out a Twitter saying: #OndoX samples tests negative for Ebola Virus, Yellow Fever, Lassa Fever Virus, Rift Valley Fever Virus, Dengue Virus, West Nile Virus.?

The samples are ?currently undergoing toxicology screen," it added.

It will be remembered that five days ago, news of a deadly disease that kills its victims within 24 hours broke out, and so far, no fewer than 28 people have fallen to the virus.

It gets more puzzling. If this isn't Ebola, Yellow Fever or the other deadly half-dozens, what is killing these people?
 
http://www.dailytrust.com.ng/weekly...7-panic-as-ondo-unknown-disease-deaths-hit-25

[snip]

Senator-elect representing Ondo South senatorial district, Pastor Yele Omogunwa in a telephone interview said he heard different versions of the story. According to him, while some attributed it to money-making rituals, others blamed it on the defilement of the Malokun shrine. ?Those who died were young people and it has not affected any female or elderly person, only the age bracket of inordinately ambitious people, so it is mysterious,? he said.
 
http://www.osundefender.org/?p=239135

Methods: The investigating team visited the communities affected and the General Hospital as well as other health facilities, to confirm if such an outbreak occurrred. Key informants interview, hospital record search, patient interview and laboratory investigation were used to obtained information..

Summary of Findings: A total of 13 deaths and 1 case was found, according to reports. The deaths were from two communities; Ayadi Community (3 deaths), Ode Irele township (10 deaths and 1 case). Deaths/cases were generally not related to each other except for one who was said to be involved in the burial of another. They were maily farmers and motorcyle riders by occupation.
The symptoms common to them were sudden blurred vision, headache, loss of consciousness followed by death, all occuring within 24 hours.
Working Diagnosis
Viral Encephalitis
Toxic waste
Heavy metals poisoning
Measures taken so far:
CSF specimen taken from 1 case
Blood specimen from 2 cases
Urine specimen from 2 cases
All specimen ship to Lagos University Teaching Hospital Lagos in care of Prof. Omilabu this morning.
Case management designated to Irele General Hospital.Active case search and line listing of cases and deaths. The surveillance focal persons at the health facilites and the LGA DSNO already instructed to commence this and forward to the State DSNO the line list daily.
Radio jingles to counteract misinformation going around that it is EVD outbreak and for the public to report cases with symptoms similar to the
current outbreak
Emergency Operation Centre opened and met to discuss strategies for control.
 
Published Date: 2015-04-18 12:33:39
Subject: PRO/EDR> Undiagnosed illness - Nigeria: (ON) fatal, blindness, RFI
Archive Number: 20150418.3306299
UNDIAGNOSED ILLNESS - NIGERIA: (ONDO) FATAL, BLINDNESS, REQUEST FOR INFORMATION
************************************************** *****************************
A ProMED-mail post
http://www.promedmail.org
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
http://www.isid.org

[snip, all articles above]

[The outbreak is said to be occurring in the Ikale community in Irele Local Government Area of Ondo State and, according to one report above, the outbreak has occurred over the past 10 days. Irele had a population of 145 166 in 2006 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irele). Ondo State is one of 36 Nigerian states and is located on the Atlantic coast. The Ikale is one of the Yoruba subgroups (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ondo_State). For a map of Nigeria showing the location of Ondo State, see http://www.un.org/Depts/Cartographic...le/nigeria.pdf.

We are not told the total number of affected people, but at least 25 people have died. According to one report above, all hospitalized patients were middle-aged males and developed the illness at about the same time. Patients are said to have had headache and sudden loss of sight before death, with loose stool, and difficulty hearing and speaking, accompanied by swelling of their tongue in one, and possibly 2, of the reports above. Hospitalized patients were said to have elevated blood pressure and signs suggestive of raised intracranial pressure in one of the reports above.

The fact that all of the hospitalized patients seem to have developed the illness at about the same time suggests a poisoning. Methanol intoxication can cause severe acute visual dysfunction and death. Initial symptoms generally occur 12-24 hours after ingestion, but the incubation period may vary with the volume of methanol ingested. Headache, nausea, vomiting, epigastric pain, and diminished visual acuity develop and in later stages, blindness and drowsiness occurs, which may progress to obtundation (altered level of consciousness) and coma. Quinine poisoning has also been reported to cause acute blindness (http://www.annemergmed.com/article/S...295-0/abstract). Acute dystonic reaction, with protrusion of the tongue, may occur as a reaction to some drugs, but this is not accompanied by loss of vision (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3793459/).

A discussion of methanol poisoning can be found in moderator TG's comments in ProMED-mail post Methanol poisoning, fatal - India: (UP) 20150113.3088258.

ProMED-mail would appreciate receiving additional information about this outbreak from knowledgeable sources. - Mod.ML
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Pathfinder said:
Dr Dayo Adeyanju

Commissioner for Health of Ondo state

TweetChat:


https://twitter.com/DrDayoAdeyanju/with_replies
Click to expand...

Ondo Health Commissioner, Dr. Dayo Adeyanju gives details on #IreleOutbreak in a TweetChat on Saturday

#IreleOutbreak - 10 Things to Know

Q: On name of the disease - No known name at the moment

Q: Is it haemorhagic fever? - No the symptoms and the lab tests do not suggest that.

Not a viral disease at all

Q: On Transmission - The disease is not contagious

Q: Need for quarantine? Not necessary, not contagious

Q: On people at risk - Nobody at risk, but it appears male are mostly affected

Q: On the victims - No relationship among them

Q: On desecration of local shrine - That's as claimed by the community, not the position of health authorities
...
In case of any suspected case, contact: WHO 08033720966, LGA DSNO ? 08112524793 and the State Epidemiologist - 08062078384

https://storify.com/ondostatemoh/ireleoutbreak-10-things-to-know
 
I don't think this is consistent with the group of people affected (pesticides would affect children more severely and both genders equally), but here's another possibility:

http://thestreetjournal.org/2015/04/...mical-says-fg/

Ondo Deaths: Disease Likely From Herbicides Chemical, Says FG

by News Editor on Apr 18, 2015 | 0 Comments
The federal government Saturday said deaths resulting from an unknown disease in Irele Local Government Area of Ondo State may have emanated from herbicides chemical used in the area.
Project Director of the National Centre for Disease Control ( NCDC ), Prof. Abdulrahman Nasidi said that the cause of the deaths might have been as a result of herbicides in the area.
Nasidi said: “Our team is on the ground, what we are getting is that the deaths is likely to be from herbicides,” he said.
The NCDC boss stated that the medical team on ground in Ondo State will continue to monitor the situation so as to tackle the health crisis in the place.
Nasidi also debunked claims that the cause of the deaths might not be unconnected with some diety in the locality.
 
alert said:
I don't think this is consistent with the group of people affected (pesticides would affect children more severely and both genders equally), but here's another possibility:

http://thestreetjournal.org/2015/04/...mical-says-fg/

Ondo Deaths: Disease Likely From Herbicides Chemical, Says FG

by News Editor on Apr 18, 2015 | 0 Comments
The federal government Saturday said deaths resulting from an unknown disease in Irele Local Government Area of Ondo State may have emanated from herbicides chemical used in the area.
Project Director of the National Centre for Disease Control ( NCDC ), Prof. Abdulrahman Nasidi said that the cause of the deaths might have been as a result of herbicides in the area.
Nasidi said: “Our team is on the ground, what we are getting is that the deaths is likely to be from herbicides,” he said.
The NCDC boss stated that the medical team on ground in Ondo State will continue to monitor the situation so as to tackle the health crisis in the place.
Nasidi also debunked claims that the cause of the deaths might not be unconnected with some diety in the locality.
Click to expand...


http://gruppen.greenpeace.de/wupper...tolerance_and_gm_crops_englisch_juni_2011.pdf

2.2 Acute effects

Quote:

The most commonly reported acute effects from occupational and bystander exposures to glyphosate-based herbicides are those of the skin, eyes, respiratory, gastrointestinal and cardiac systems. They include: ■ irritation, swelling, tingling or burning of the skin, dermatitis, photocontact dermatitis; ■ conjunctivitis, painful eyes, corneal injury, burning eyes, blurred vision, double vision, swelling of the eye and lid; ■ oral and nasal discomfort, unpleasant taste, tingling and irritation of throat, sore throat, swollen tongue; ■ burning in chest, cough; ■ nausea, vomiting, headache, fever, diarrhoea, shakes and chills, tiredness, lethargy; and ■ rapid heartbeat, raised blood pressure, dizziness, light-headedness, tingling in hands and feet; aching arms (IPCS 1994; Goldstein et al. 2002; Bradberry et al. 2004
 
Methanol ingestion can cause it ? Commissioner


APRIL 19, 2015 : FEMI MAKINDE AND GBENGA ADENIJI
...
The Commissioner for Health in Ondo State, Dr. Dayo Adeyanju, debunks the claim by some chiefs that the unknown disease broke out because the Malokun gods are angry with some youths who stole some totems from its shrine
...
Has there been record of this disease before anywhere in the state?

This is the first time. We are working round the clock to find the cause and to stop it. To us, we can trace it to some situations. Four of the victims were said to have taken some drink at a joint and it could be as a result of methanol ingestion.
...
What is the state government doing to stop the disease?

We have been telling our people to bring anyone who is sick to the hospital. Our hospitals are functional and we know that some families may be hiding their sick relations at home because they don?t want the stigma associated with claim that the disease is a punishment from the gods.
...

http://www.punchng.com/special-feature/methanol-ingestion-can-cause-it-commissioner/
 
Mysterious deaths in Ondo: The god is not to blame

on April 19, 2015 / in Metro 2:10 am
Dayo Johnson, Akure

THE deaths in a remote community of Irele in Irele local government area of Ondo State were attributed to the action of six boys who broke into the shrine of Molokun, the deity of the people and desecrated it by stealing artifacts and sacred objects.
...
Reports had it that those who shared from the proceeds of the sales and who they gave the money to in exchange for goods and services died in turns.

Sunday Vanguard gathered that the Malokun shrine was broken into by the boys after they had protected themselves through the help of a herbalist outside the community.

- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/04/...the-god-is-not-to-blame/#sthash.cV5G6vnx.dpuf
 
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