Death toll from a strange disease which has ravaged the communities of Ute-Okpu and Idumesa in Ika North-East Local Government Area of Delta State for over two weeks running has risen to over 30.
A middle-aged woman, Mrs Monica Emeke, lost two of her children, a boy and a girl in one day to the strange ailment, after
the state government had raised the alarm of the death of 15 youths within the age bracket of 18 to 25 years old in the two communities.
Mrs Monica Emeke who chatted with newsmen decried that the situation was getting out of hand.
Lamenting that the boy was 26 years of age and the girl was 22 years, she said the victims vomited blood before they passed on while others complained of fatigue, headache and feverish condition before their death either at home or at the hospital.
She expressed worry over the death rate, decrying that five persons died in one day in Ute Okpu community while several deaths have been recorded in neighbouring villages including Ute Erunu.
As at last weekend, over 15 persons between the ages of 18 and 25 years had reportedly died of the strange disease in the area, which prompted the Governor Ifeanyi Okowa to direct the State Commissioner for Health, Dr Mordi Ononye and representatives of the World Health Organisation, WHO and other health experts to visit the communities.
Ononye who spoke at the Palace of the traditional ruler of Ute Okpu, HRM Obi Solomon Chukwuka I during the visit lth commissioner, said medical officials from his ministry had already visited the community to collect samples for necessary clinical tests.
He said:
“Hemorrhagic fever possibly from substance abuse” was suspected, considering the age bracket of those that had died.
