At least 11 persons have reportedly lost their lives, while several others are currently receiving medical attention from strange illness in Lagelu area of Oyo State.
Similar situation had played out in two communities in Igboeze North local government area of Enugu state, claiming about 30 lives. The state government after intense efforts later attributed the strange illness to yellow fever.
However, in the case of Oyo State, though government said they were yet to ascertain the cause of the strange illness as samples taken from victims were yet t0 return, some residents are attributing the symptoms from the victims to cholera.
It was gathered that the strange illness suspected to be cholera outbreak was first recorded at Ariku village in Lagelu area of the state with five persons killed.
The illness later spread to Lagun village where six persons died from complications from the same strange illness.
Another unconfirmed source said the outbreak first occurred about four weeks ago at Ariku village in ward 4 but eventually spread into Lagun village in ward 6, two weeks ago.
Caretaker Chairman, Lagelu local government, Kelani Abdullahi, explained part of the immediate action taken by the government was to investigate the cause of the illness suspected to be cholera.
He said initial investigation showed it could be due to lack of access to clean and potable water by the affected persons.
Commissioner of Health Dr Bashir Bello said the tests carried out on the affected persons in the area were still premature and the samples collected have not confirmed to be cholera.
He however added the surveillance and health officers sent to the local government to take samples and access the situation reported the poor unhygienic and dirty environment of the victims, saying the factor could have exposed them to all sorts of illness and infections.
Bello said the infected persons have been hospitalized and are all responding to treatment.
He called for calm, assuring the state government was on top of the situation.
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