Cholera patients in Eti-Osa LGA took unregistered tiger nut drink- Lagos Govt

She said officials were then dispatched to find the drink in
other to test samples for cholera.

“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,” she said.

 “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.

“Cholera is also water-borne, so we took samples of the
water to test it. The bottom line is that we took stool samples because
different things cause diarrhoea.

“It could be anything else. We found out that it was
confirmed cholera, specifically Vibrio cholera subtype 01, which is the most
infectious and aggressive type.

 “There are different
types, but we identified this one. In Lagos Island, Eti-osa, and Kosofe, we
recorded the highest number of cases that went to the hospital.

“I’m not talking about reported cases. These are the people
who did the right thing by going to the hospital to complain of symptoms, and
they were treated. That’s when we were alerted.”

Ogunyemi added that the government has ramped up
sensitisation and awareness to ensure that the outbreak does not morph into an
epidemic.