A mysterious disease caused the death of 7 people and 59 others were transferred to a hospital in the city of Bouake in central Côte d’Ivoire, according to medical and local sources reported to Agence France-Presse on Monday.
A source at the University Hospital in Bouake said that 7 people have died so far from this disease, 5 of whom died in the hospital and two others in the village of Nyangban, south of the city.
He added: “We have a total of 59 people receiving treatment in the hospital, the vast majority of whom are children and there are some teenagers.”
While the source confirmed that the type or source of this disease is not yet known, he explained that its most prominent symptoms are vomiting and diarrhea.
Emmanuel Kwame N’Guessan, head of the village of Nyangban, said that those who died were between the ages of 5 and 12. He added that about 50 people were taken to the University Hospital for treatment.
A nurse was quoted as saying on Sunday that there were “children dying.”
Celestine Kouadio Kofi, a close associate of the village mayor, said that many residents believe that the disease is caused by dishes cooked from corn contaminated with bacteria.
According to Zitanek Amwin Yao, the mother of the first child who died from the disease, her son became ill after she bought this food and gave it to him.
She explained, “After her 3-year-old child ate the food, he had diarrhea, then he started vomiting when I gave him the medicine they gave me at Gibonwane Hospital. We returned to the hospital and they asked us to go to the University Hospital in Bouake, where he died.”
Agnes Aya Konan also lost her daughter, but she refuses to blame the food or its seller for her death, stressing that “the rest of her children ate the same food on Sunday and nothing bad happened to them.”
Last February, two people in another village near Bouake were sentenced to 5 years in prison, after Clostridium bacteria caused the death of 16 people, according to an official toll, and 21 people, according to residents.
2023-09-19 02:53:29
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