The Federal Government has deployed the National Rapid Response Team to the state to unravel the mystery of a strange illness wreaking havoc on lives of the residents of the state.
Daily Trust reported that the Director-General, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, Chikwe Ihekweazu, disclosed this in Abuja last night at the joint national briefing of the Presidential Task Force on Covid-19.
Residents of Kano State has been battling with the outbreak of the strange illness, which has claimed four lives and infected over 200 persons, since two weeks ago.
The cause of the illness had initially been attributed to water poisoning but efforts to contain it have proved abortive.
But according to Daily Trust the team deployed to the state have been tasked to manage the victims of the illness.
The strange disease is confirmed in 13 local government areas, including eight metropolitan councils in the state.
Ihekweazu said the Kano State Ministry of Health reported a cluster of cases in 13 LGAs within the state with most of the cases having fever, vomiting, yellowish eyes and abdominal pain as symptoms.
“We’ve tested four samples taken from these cases for Lassa fever and yellow fever at the NCDC National Reference Lab. The results of these were negative.
“We’re working with, our sister agency NAFDAC as well as a toxicologist from FMoH to test for potential non-infectious causes,” he said.
He said the agency had also collected additional human and environmental samples for metagenomic sequencing which is a method for detecting rare new causes of illness.
He said, “Our immediate focus is to identify the cause of this outbreak, ensure management of current cases and to control transmission.
“We’ll continue to keep members of the public aware of our findings, while we support the state’s response.”
