Lagos links strange killer disease to measles

• Community missed last vaccination exercise, says govt
EPIDEMIOLOGISTS in Lagos State yesterday identified measles as the erstwhile ‘strange’ killer disease that has wreaked havoc in the Eti-Osa area of the state.

The researchers, at the conclusion of their findings into the cause of the outbreak, said markers in the blood samples collected from patients showed activities of measles virus.

Announcing the findings yesterday, state Commissioner of Health, Dr. Jide Idris said that water samples also confirmed traces of bacterial as a result of “serious” poor environmental issues in the slum community.

It would be recalled that the disease outbreak in Otodo Gbame community of Eti-Osa Local Government Council has killed 17 children between the age of five months and six years, while about 34 have been line-listed for close monitoring.

Idris said yesterday that from analysis conducted on blood samples (and throat swabs) and water samples conducted at the Virology Reference Laboratory (in LUTH) and Lagos State Drug Quality Control Laboratory (DQCL), LASUTH, Ikeja, “what we are dealing with is actually measles.”

“Different test has confirmed that. There is a marker in the blood that shows active activities of the (measles) virus in that community. The cause of this has to do with environmental sanitation in that place.

“It is a slum area, so a lot of sanitation and personal hygiene are totally off course. With a lot of open defecation, the water system was contaminated and in the water samples we detected a lot of bacteria,” he said.

Idris added that while measles vaccination has since commenced with health awareness in the affected community, they had also done active case search, but no new death has thus far been recorded at least in the last one week of their intervention.