Nigeria hit by Mysterious disease that claims 17 lives in 24 hrs

By Caribbean Medical News Staff
Nigeria has been hit by a “mysterious” disease that is so deadly, it kills patients within 24 hours. So far, the disease has claimed at least 17 lives in a south-eastern Nigerian town, said a government official.
“Seventeen people have died of the mysterious disease since it broke out early this week in Ode-Irele town,” the government spokesman for Ondo state, Kayode Akinmade, told a local news agency.
Some of the symptoms associated with the disease include: headache, weight loss, blurred vision and loss of consciousness. However, the most sinister symptom of the disease is that it kills the victims within 24 hours of them falling ill, said Akinmade.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) said it had information on 14 cases with at least 12 deaths. Scientists have so far ruled out Ebola or any other known virus, he said.
The spokesman said that health officials and experts from the government and aid agencies, as well as WHO epidemiologists, have arrived in Ode-Irele.
Akinmade said that, “Outside a total of 17 deaths recorded, in the past 72 hours we have not recorded new cases. There is no patient of the disease in any hospital and the disease has not spread beyond the town.”
Another spokesperson said that blood and urine samples were taken from two victims and cerebrospinal fluid from another. He further explained that all of the samples have been sent to Lagos University Teaching Hospital with the results still pending. Further investigations are being conducted.