Moi Moi and food poisoning
Bobby Krishna
Ramadan tragedy
How food poison killed one in Bauchi
From: PAUL ORUDE, Bauchi, Nigeria
Thursday, August 27, 2009
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Affected children Photo: The Sun Publishing |
It was the first day of Ramadan, and Mallam Saleh Ali of Nahuta village was in high spirit. The village is located within Toro Local Government Area of Bauchi State. Ali was not alone as members of his family were also in high spirit.
The 70-year old farmer told one of his three wives to go to the old stock to fetch beans and prepare moi-moi with which the entire family would use to break the fast.
Moi-moi is a popular Nigerian delicacy made from beans. Larai, his wife did the necessary preparations along with her daughters and co-wives.
After Magrib prayer around 6: 40 in the evening, they all settled down to take the delicacy with Kunu to go with it. This was around 7:30 in the evening. Few hours later, the unexpected happened.
One of those who devoured the moi-moi, Malam Safiyanu, 25, started feeling very funny. Safiyanu told Daily Sun that he ate two moulds of moi-moi to break his fast: “I became uncomfortable after eating. The last thing I remember was falling down. I sustained injuries as a result of the fall.”
Soon, the feeling Sefiyanu was having was affecting the young and the old, female and male members of the household and everyone who partook of the meal. Recuperating Ali, told Daily Sun in his hospital bed the next morning that it was like hell.
“The moi moi was shared out to all members of my household as well as neighbours in the spirit of Ramadan. “Not long after we all ate, we started vomiting, and getting unconscious and were rushed to the hospital.”
With a critical situation in their hands, villagers started evacuating Ali and his household and neighbours affected to Bauchi Specialist Hospital, a distance of about 30 to 40 kilometres. As at Saturday night when they were admitted, 64 of them were counted.
Secretary of the Red Cross in Bauchi, Adamu Abubakar, told newsmen that they were brought in buses and vans to the Specialists Hospital, Bauchi, Saturday evening.
Abubakar said they were unconscious and first aid was administered on them by Red Cross before doctors took over.
Unfortunately, one of Ali’s nieces, eight-year-old Naja’ atu died in the hospital. She had lost the battle. But eight year old Ukachi Sefiyanu, Ali’s neighbour and Naja’atu’s playmate survived.
His elder brother, Yakubu who did not partake in the meal said, “the boy was vomiting and complaining of headache and then passed out.
Lukman Sale, 20-year-old son of Ali said after he ate the meal, the next thing he remembered was waking up in the hospital the next day: “I became restless and I was vomiting and I did not remember anything again.
“I ate the beans with my brother Usman, he too was unconscious when they brought us here.”
The Deputy Director, Infectious Diseases in the state Ministry of Health, Alhaji Aminu Abubakar, confirmed that what Ali and his household ate was food poisoning.
Abubakar said symptoms included severe stomach pain, vomiting and diarrhea. He said the bean used in preparing the delicacy was contaminated from the chemical used for storage.
The Deputy Director said laboratory tests would be conducted to know the type of chemical used in storing the beans. He said the ministry dispatched a team to the village and surrounding markets to trace origin of the beans. He said households affected would be disinfected to forestall any outbreak.
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Bobby Krishna
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