The Lagos State Government said that an unregistered tiger nut drink was the primary cause of the recent cholera outbreak in the state.
The cholera outbreak has affected several local government areas in Lagos, including Lagos Island, Eti-Osa, and Kosofe, with the highest number of cases reported in hospitals.
The Special Adviser to the Lagos State Governor on Health, Kemi Ogunyemi, told Punch that the government noticed an increase in cases in the Eti-Osa Local Government Area of Lagos specifically.
She said the result of a survey revealed that a common denominator m was a tiger nut drink in circulation.
Ogunyemi disclosed that the tiger nut drink was not registered with the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).
Ogunyemi added that people who came to the hospitals all identified that they took the tiger nut drink.
She noted that ongoing efforts to trace the source of the drinks include collecting samples and conducting contact tracing, similar to the approach used during the COVID-19 pandemic.
She stated that efforts to track down the source of the drinks were hampered by a lack of registration and the inaccessibility of the phone number on the bottle.
Ogunyemi noted that further testing of stool samples from affected individuals confirmed the presence of Vibrio cholerae subtype 01, the most infectious and aggressive strain of cholera.
“Of course, 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.”
She urged residents to abide by hygienic and verify the items bought for consumption are registered with relevant government agencies.