Five people reportedly lost their lives to a disease
suspected to be viral hepatitis, which broke out in Marhai community in the
Wamba Local Government Area of Nasarawa State.
Viral hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver. According
to doctors, the disease spreads in different ways, including through sex,
sharing of needles and the consumption of unclean food.
One of the members of the community, who spoke to Punch on
condition of anonymity, said that quite a number of their people lost their
lives to the illness.
“We don’t know where the illness emanated from. We are
appealing to the state government to come to our aid because if this is not
addressed immediately, it can spread to many communities in the state,” the
source said.
It was gathered that the community informed the state
ministry of health about the disease after many people, believed to be farmers,
died.
However, the state Commissioner for Health, Dr. Daniel Iya,
who confirmed the outbreak, said it was not certain that the victims died of
viral hepatitis.
“We are trying to address the issue. So we did a study to
find out how many people were affected in Marhai. Our officials were at the
community to conduct a survey to establish the prevalent rate of viral
hepatitis. It cannot be ascertained that the deaths were as a result of viral
hepatitis, he added.
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