By Abba Gwale
A suspected poisoning outbreak has reportedly killed 2 people and made over 167 sick in Kano.
SAHELIAN TIMES authoritatively gathered that all the patients had taken expired citric acid powdered drinks, commonly the brand of Jolly Jus or Fresh.
The products batches have expired since about a year ago but still being sold in the market.
The paper also gathered that the distribution of the affected patients cut across 8 different local government areas in the state.
Kano state ministry of health has confirmed that the affected patients present with symptoms of haematuria (bloody urine) or dark urine, fever, lethargy, and sometimes yellowness of the eyes (jaundice).
“These symptoms are classical of ongoing haemolysis (breakage of red blood cells) and bleeding,” said Dr Bashir Lawan (state epidemiologist).
Dr Bashir also added that, the index case was a 6-year old girl seen on 6th March 2021. “We initially suspected viral haemorrhagic fever but the test results came back from the National Reference Laboratory as negative for Yellow fever and Lassa fever. But we are still awaiting the test of Dengue fever.”
The state government has provided a list of hospitals designated for patients affected by this outbreak to be admitted for treatment.
The hospitals include, Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH), Murtala Muhammad Specialist Hospital, and Infectious Disease Hospital.
Others are Sheikh Jidda Hospital, Waziri Shehu Gidado Hospital, Rano General Hospital and two hospitals in Dawakin Tofa Local Government.
Dr. Bashir Lawal explained that the outbreak has spread to eight local governments, including Gwale, Kano Municipal, Dala, Bunkure, Fagge, Gwarzo and Dawakin Tofa.
He also confirmed that water sample was taken from Dandolo cemetery’s bore-hole for analysis to rule out other potential causes of the outbreak.
He added that they have about 3 samples of expired powdered mixed -fruit and citric acid powder with NAFDAC for laboratory testing to confirm the link to either expired ingredients or preservatives, while 4 additional samples were taken for heavy metals and leptospirosis screening among other technical response activities.
