Strange Ondo Killer Disease Linked To Exhumed Corpse (Report)

All 14 deaths recorded in Ode Irele, Ondo state, from a
“strange” ailment are directly connected to an exhumed
corpse in the community, Kayode Akinmade, the Ondo state
commissioner for information and strategy, has said.
247NN had reported that the unidentified disease is
ravaging the Ode-Irele community in Ondo State and has left
28 people dead in the past three days.
Speaking with TheCable , Akinmade said the diseases was
not the same as Ebola Virus Disease (EVD), although it had
managed to kill its victims in less than 24 hours.
“The symptoms were not that of Ebola; it’s a 24-hour attack
that would make the victim to have headache, be
unconscious, then after 24 hours, the person is gone. That
one cannot be Ebola,” he said. “All the necessary facility that
government should provide, government has done that. We
have moved all the ambulances and everything.”
He added that although there were claims that as many as 34
people had died, only 14 people had fallen victim of the
strange disease. “Available data do not indicate that 34
people have died – only 14,”he said. “And from what we got,
the 14 had personal contacts with those people who came to
exhume the corpse that led to this epidemic.”
He added that the state commissioner for health, Dayo
Akinyanju would “in the next couple of hours, make a state
wide broadcast” to update Nigerians on the state of the
disease. Soji Gbadebo, the permanent secretary (protocol), in
the state who also spoke with TheCable, corroborated
Akinmade’s position.
“There is a general allusion that there was a – there was
something buried there (Ode Irele) and some people went
there to exhume the thing, and sold it to this English
people,” Gbadebo said.
“Only those who were directly involved have been affected by
this epidemic. “Meanwhile, government has sent powerful
health team there to unravel the mystery, so, for now, we
may not know what actually happened until a scientific
report unfolds it.” Speaking anonymously, a resident said the
disease had claimed 34 lives although the newspapers
reported just 12.
On Thursday, the strange ailment was reported to have
claimed 12 lives in Ode-Irele, a community in Irele local
government area of the state. The disease is characterised
with headache in victims, then loss of sight, and finally
death, all in a few hours.
The state government has said it is using equipment bought
for the prevention and control of Ebola virus disease in the
state to isolate the victims and control the unknown
outbreak. Samples from the victims have been collected and
sent to laboratories for investigation, with the World Health
Organisation (WHO) already in the know.