The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control says it has discovered the cause of the strange illness in Kano.
During an interview with Channels Television on Wednesday, NAFDAC Director-General, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye revealed that the illness was caused by food poisoning.
At least, three persons have reportedly died of the virus with at least 183 others currently receiving treatment in the hospital as a result of the outbreak.
Adeyeye said that the “Kano incident is a case of food poisoning with flavoured drinks that has a chemical called dansami. It is very serious because the food poisoning resulted in diarrhoea, vomiting, and hospitalisation,” she said.
“Our zonal director, Pharmacist Gimba, is on top of this and our pharmacovigilance officers are also investigating what actually happened.
“We’re going to do a lot of testing in the lab to know the nature of this chemical that probably led to the food poisoning.”
Speaking further Adeyeye said, “The chances of recurrence are minimal. But we don’t even know whether the flavoured drinks are smuggled. We sometimes find out that manufacturing is not approved by NAFDAC.
“So, we just have to find out whether this particular flavoured drink was approved by NAFDAC.”
She however vowed that “once we discover the” origin of the drink, the agency will “know what next to do in terms of arresting the culprit or bringing them to the office to know what is going on.
