Benue State Government has allayed fears expressed by residents that the strange illness which broke out in a boarding private secondary school in Makurdi might spread.
The Commissioner for Education in the state, Professor Dennis Ityavyar, who spoke to The Next Edition on Tuesday said the school had already been shut and there was no reason for any resident or parent to be afraid.
“There is no reason what-so-ever for anyone to be afraid because Vaatia College is not a day school. It is a boarding school and if something happens there, it has no way of spreading to other schools,” Ityavyar said.
Recall that Benue State Government had shut down Vaatia College in Makurdi following outbreak of strange disease.
The school authority had reportedly sent notice to parents last Sunday to pick up their children after five students of the school were hit with the strange illness and hospitalized at different hospitals in Makurdi.
The State Commissioner for Health and Human Services, Dr. Joseph Ngbea, had confirmed the case describing it as ‘Orepa syndrome” saying that the students experienced parasis.
According to the Commissioner, the school was shut to avoid any possible spread.
He had stated that “Since there is no paralysis, polio is completely ruled out. we are trying to look at that, they are being treated now, there is no diagnosis at the teaching hospital. It is auto immune. We want to look into it and see if it is contagious.”
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Professor Ityavyar, however, assured that the ministry of health is intensifying research on how it came to the school and how it can be curbed.
According to him, the Benue state taskforce on COVID-19 has conclusively done tests and found that it has nothing to do with the pandemic.
“It is just a strange illness but the medical experts at the state ministry of health are trying to unravel what it is.
“It has some character like polio but since polio is already eradicated in Nigeria, we cannot say it is polio but they have assured us it is not what will spread to other schools.”
He again appealed to parents not to panic saying in a matter of days, the medical experts will unravel the mystery.
