Ondo: ‘Ethanol poisoning won’t affect resumption’

Oyewoga of Irele in Ondo State, Chief Moses Oyewole

The Ondo State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Dayo Adeyanju, has said the recent strange deaths that occurred in Ode-Irele community will not upset school resumption slated for Monday, April 27, across the state.

Adeyanju, however, said schools were expected to continue active surveillance of screening and hand-washing, which started after the outbreak of the Ebola Virus Disease in the country.

The commissioner, who spoke with our correspondent in a phone interview on Thursday, said the cause of deaths had been traced to a locally brewed gin and is not contagious.

He added that the state had embarked on a sensitisation programme after the incident.

“Schools will be resuming next week and the incident has no impact on schools and markets. It has nothing to do with schools and it is not infectious. We will only be worried if it is contagious; but it has been linked with the consumption of a locally-brewed gin.

“We distributed sanitisers to schools two weeks ago. We had a holistic programme on Ebola for the education sector. We bought buckets and dispensed running grants to ensure schools have water.

“Proper hand-washing and hygienic practices are routine in our public and private schools. That is what we are emphasising in our radio jingles and handbills,” he said.

Recently, 23 people in Ode-Irele suddenly took ill. While 18 died within hours, the state government said five survivors who had been transferred to the University College Hospital, Ibadan, were in stable conditions.

Preliminary reports from the government have also pointed to ethanol poisoning in the locally-brewed gin the victims allegedly ingested.