The government of Nigeria warned of a "strange epidemic" that killed 15 people and infected dozens of people, all in just one week.
An outbreak of a mysterious disease that causes vomiting, swelling and diarrhea was first reported late last month in Benue State, southeast of the capital Abuja.
By February 3, "the number of people suffering from this strange endemic has risen to 104," said Nigerian Senator Abba Moro, according to the Daily Post.
In a Senate resolution, Mr. Moro, representing the area in Benue State, named a number of victims of the disease, all of whom allegedly died within 48 hours of infection.
The resolution calls on the country's health ministry to send experts to the outbreak center to learn more about the disease.
The Daily Post also reports that the Nigerian Centers for Disease Control (NCDC) must take steps to monitor the spread of the new infection.
Health Minister Osagi Ehanir said in a briefing on Friday that the disease does not appear to be Ebola or Lassa, two potentially deadly viruses that are common in West Africa.
It also doesn't seem like it was the 2019 novel coronavirus that originated in Wuhan, China and has killed over 700 people to date.
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Mr Ehanir said the NCDC is now stepping up its emergency response operation in the affected area.
According to the BBC, government officials suspect chemicals used in fishing may be the cause of the disease.
Editorial comment
The news digest from uk.news.yahoo.com was published on February 10th, and the Daily Post writes about everything on February 7th. Thus, the news has already been a week, but in the meantime there is no continuation in the media. This is strange.
A strange and disease from which people die in 48 hours, and the mortality rate there is above 10%. Local doctors have kits for Ebola and Lassa fever and they rule it out, it doesn't look like coronavirus in terms of symptoms, so the question arises: what is it?
Is it really a new Wuhan? There, too, everything began something like this - with a short note about “unknown pneumonia”. In the light of the story with this “unknown pneumonia”, Nigeria now needs to be looked at, so we follow the development of events there: usually there are no viruses in nature that kill in 48 hours, but with biological weapons this may well be.