Not less than 300 pupils of the Federal Government Girls’ College, Efon Alaaye, Ekiti State, have been hospitalised following an outbreak of an unknown disease reportedly said to be diarrhoea when on October 10 some of the pupils started vomiting and stooling. Since the epidemic started, the school authority has been taking the affected pupils to Efon General Hospital.
The Ekiti State Government, has however through its Commissioner for Health, Dr. Olurotimi Ojo, said the disease is “diarrhoea” as it has begun an investigation into its cause. In a related development, Governor Ayodele Fayose has ordered the commissioner to mobilise healthcare workers to the school to ensure the situation is put under control. Meanwhile parents and guardians have been trooping to the school to see if their children and wards are among the victims.
The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, Dr. Folakemi Olomojobi, who spoke on behalf of the commissioner, has said only 20 of the infected pupils were still in the hospital, adding that the ministry had brought in environmental health officials. According to her, “We have alerted the water corporation to chlorinate their water. They have about six boreholes and we have them chlorinated, because we knew as professionals that the water could be a source.
“We are trying to look into their environment, so that we can get where such could have broken out. We want to know how they dump their faeces and how they dump their sewages. We have taken blood samples of affected pupils to the hospital and the preliminary test shows that it was not cholera. It was diarrhoea and vomiting. We are sending the samples for further test to confirm that it is not cholera.”
