CO Poisoning?
Adebayo, Ayodele (CDC/NIOSH/DSHEFS)
Power outage claims family of 5, woman - 50 students critically ill
after eating beans
Ishola Michael, Gombe, With Agency Reports - 03.06.2008
TRAGEDY struck on Sunday in Enugu State when five members of a family
died in their sleep in circumstances that have been described as
mysterious.
Also, a woman was electrocuted when the Power Holding Company of Nigeria
(PHCN) restored light in Lagos.
In Gombe State, about 50 students are currently lying critically ill in
the hospital following consumption of beans.
The five members in Enugu died in their sleep in the home of one Mr.
William Eze, located on Eze-Chima Street, Trans-Ekulu, in Enugu State.
Three others are said to be lying critically ill at Ntasi Obi Ndi No
Afufu Specialist Hospital, Enugu.
A relation of one of the deceased, Mr. Arize Agu, told the News Agency
of Nigeria (NAN) that the corpses, which he identified as those of Eze's
wife, his two children and two relations, had been deposited in the
mortuary.
He said Eze and two other children were still unconscious in the
hospital.
Agu said he forced the door of their apartment open around 10.00 a.m.
after calling the cell phone of Eze's wife without anybody picking it.
He said he discovered eight of the occupants lying on the floor in the
sitting room, with a foam-like substance in their mouths.
Agu said he suspected that the deceased might have died of suffocation
arising from the fumes of a generating set placed in the passage of the
building, adding: "I perceived gaseous odour when l forced the door
open."
Mr. Michael Abattam, the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO),
told NAN that the incident had not been reported to the command.
Also, a socialite, Mrs. Abigael Okeowo, popularly known as "Cash Madam,"
was electrocuted on Sunday afternoon at her residence on Victoria
Polytechnic-2 Street, Iwaya, Lagos.
According to eyewitnesses, the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN)
just restored electricity supply to the area when the incident occurred.
A witness told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that Okeowo, 54, had
left other tenants and gone to the backyard to use the toilet.
"As she bent down to take a kettle of water for cleaning up, she touched
the pole of a television antenna erected near the toilet.
"Unknown to her, the pole had touched a naked wire that fell partly on
the roof," one of her co-tenants told NAN.
"I heard her shout and when I ran to her, she had fallen down between
the pole and the wall with her body still in contact with the pole.
"I quickly called for help," said a woman who gave her name simply as
Dupe.
NAN learnt that the first man who rushed to her rescue was thrown
against the wall by high current before the people realised it was
electrocution.
"Doctors at the Military Hospital, Yaba, where she was rushed to, only
confirmed her 'dead on arrival'," another co-tenant told NAN.
A reliable source at the police command confirmed the incident to NAN,
adding that an autopsy would be carried out to determine the cause of
her death.
About 50 students of Government Girls Secondary School, Malala, Gombe
State, are now lying critically ill following the consumption of beans.
Confirming the incident to newsmen on Sunday, the medical officer in
charge of the General Hospital, Dukku, Dr. Obong Peter, said at the time
the students were rushed to the hospital, most of them were unconscious
and others were vomiting and foaming in the mouth.
He added that but for the prompt intervention of medical personnel and
other staff, many of the students would have died.
Kunle Oyekanmi
The family of five sounds like CO poisoning. Or could it be asphyxiation? Very unfortunate and the collateral damage from the very poor power generation and distribution in Nigeria. The 50 students with beans poisoning is somewhat puzzling. It should not be merely dismissed as gastroenteritis, which it may well be. However, it deserves further investigation. Food safety should be an important issue in Nigeria. Is this deliberate food poisoning from some chemical substances? Arsenic? Some food preservative? How many people consumed the beans of which 50 came down with illnesses? What was the origin of the beans - local or was it imported? Is the source supplying beans to other parties and have those parties been contacted? I have never heard of a product or food recall in Nigeria. NAFDAC staff and epidemiologists from the nearest academic institution need to work on this and get to the root of this. Are there left over bean samples, which can be tested for various things in an independent laboratory? We all have loved ones in Nigeria and do not want a situation where something that should provide nourishment becomes the agent of morbidity and possible mortality.
'Kunle Oyekanmi OEM Physician
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