Our reporter The Lagos State Government said it has traced the latest cholera outbreak in the state to an unregistered tiger nut drink. In an exclusive interview with our correspondent, Dr Kemi Ogunyemi, the Special Adviser to the Lagos State Governor on Health, said the officials of the Environmental Health Services from the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Environment, were able to trace the cholera outbreak in the Eti=Osa Local Government Area to a particular brand of unregistered tiger nut drink. She revealed that most of the cholera patients, upon being questioned, said they started exhibiting diarrhoea symptoms after consuming the tiger nut drink.
Ogunyemi said, “When we noticed an increase in cases in Eti-Osa Local Government Area of Lagos specifically, we went there to investigate. We carried out a survey and found that the common denominator, which was one of the deadly factors, was a tiger nut drink. People who came to the hospitals all identified that they had drunk tiger nut drink.
“We couldn’t just take their word for it, so we had to take that drink and test it to see what was in it. We immediately sent people out to look for those selling it, so we could take a sample. 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, the regulatory body that ensures the safety of consumables,” she said.
Since the present outbreak, cholera has contin.
