No fewer than twenty persons are currently being treated in various hospitals in Jos, the Plateau state capital as a result of excessive consumption of salt following a viral message on social media that it could prevent the spread of the Ebola virus.
A medical worker at the Plateau State Specialist Hospital, told our correspondent that they are in various hospitals in the city.
The source, who does not want his name in print because he was not authorised to speak, said most of the patients rushed to the hospital were hypertensive while others showed symptoms of stooling due to excessive consumption of salt.
According to him, most of the patients are women and children.
Pede, while speaking on the issue, advised residents to ignore such messages as no cure had yet been found for the disease.
Efforts to speak with the Chief Medical Director, Dr. Gidado Idris, were not fruitful as he was said to be out of the office when our correspondent visited the hospital.
Meanwhile, the Plateau State Government on Friday debunked the rumours of an outbreak of the dreaded Ebola disease in the state.
Commissioner for Health, Dr. Fom Dakwak, stated this on Friday while addressing newsmen in Jos.
Dakwak, represented by the Permanent Secretary in the State Ministry of Health, Dr. Elias Pede, advised people to seek better information from the ministry while warning those peddling rumours of an outbreak of the disease to desist from it.
According to him, the state government is working hard to ensure that the disease does not get to the state.
He added, “We recently trained 37 surveillance officers from the 17 local government areas in the state on ways of detecting the dreaded virus, who are expected to train others in their respective Local Government Areas.”
He said the state government had commenced aggressive enlightenment campaign on the dangers of the virus as well as put in place measures to ensure quick detection of any case that would lead to containment and control.
The commissioner further cautioned citizens of the state to desist from eating bush meat, keep their environment clean and maintain good personal hygiene.
“Citizens must ensure that they wash their hands with soap and detergents at all times,” he added
“We are working hard to set designated special hospitals for treatment of any patient who might have contacted the disease.”
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