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TRACKING >>No fewer than 16 persons have lost their lives in Izzi Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, following an outbreak of Yellow Fever virus, which has been raving the area since last month. It was gathered that many were already receiving treatment at Lassa Fever Virology Centre at Alex Ekwueme Federal Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki(AE-FUTHA) , and Iboko General Hospital in Izzi Local Government Area.

The state’s Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, Dr. Christian Achi, who confirmed the outbreak, said the Federal Ministry of Health and Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) had intervened on the disaster. He attributed the death of the 16 persons to patronage of medical quacks and use of herbs to treat the outbreak. He appealed to the people of the state to always access the health facilities located in their areas. According to him, a special type of mosquito called AEDES mosquito transmits the virus to human and it has three to six days incubation period in human body.

He said: “Yes, that is why we appreciate the community early information to the authorities especially when they notice that there is unusual happening. We have always insisted that people should make use of our health facilities in all the 171 political wards in Ebonyi State, we have health centres that will serve them.

“Incidentally, on July 15, somebody called me from one of the villages in Izzi Local Government Area that there is a way people are dying in the village that he is suspecting that something maybe wrong, but I called health workers there who said no such case came to their clinic. “I sent our rapid response team to visit the place, lo and behold when they got there, it was a case of Fellow Fever and unfortunately, we have had about 16 deaths at the place.

“So, we moved to the place, conduct case search, those who already had the symptom, we moved them to the health facility at Ndungele and when it was serious ,we moved some to the General hospital at Iboko and virology centre here in Abakaliki.

“But the problem about the outbreak was that our people did not believe that they should go to hospital when they experienced this yellowness of the eyes, they believe that they can be treated with local herbs that’s why we recorded causalties which should not have been. “We notified Federal Ministry of Health and centre for disease control. For the past two weeks, they have been in Ebonyi State to ensure control and they equally came with drugs and consignments. “We are equally doing much to ensure that it does not spread to the capital city. Yellow fever is not transmitted from human to human. It can only be transmitted through Mosquito.

“There are forest monkeys that equally carry Yellow fever virus and if mosquito bites the monkey and bites somebody in the forest it will pass the virus and if the mosquito bites another person, it will continue to transmit the virus that is the way the virus spreads.

Yellow fever comes with fever, typhoid and if it is not detected on time, it will start destroying blood and the person will go into coma,” Achi explained. He further recalled that in January, there was outbreak of Yellow fever in Benue which is still being traced, even as he said that some of the affected persons are still under medical care while some had been discharged after proper medical examination and care, that the ministry is tracing the contact following outbreak of yellow fever in Benue in January.