Three people have been confirmed dead, while 183 others have been hospitalized after drinking expired citric acid powdered drinks.
Kano state’s Commissioner for health, Dr Aminu Ibrahim Tsanyawa said those affected after drinking expired citric acid powdered drinks of a brand of Jolly Jus or Fresh, were spread across 13 local government areas of the state.
Gwale, Kano Municipal, Dala, Bunkure, Fagge, Gwarzo, Dawakin Tofa, Ungogo, Kumbotso, Tarauni, Rano, Dawakinjudu and Danbatta are among the affected councils.
Tsanyawa said the products batch had expired since about a year ago but were still being sold in the market. Out of the 284 hospitalised, 101 have been discharged leaving 183 still receiving treatment, the state government said.
The commissioner also announced that the seized items that caused the outbreak of the disease are valued at N59 million.
He said;
“We have deployed personnel and scaled up surveillance in the 44 local government areas of the state to check circulation of the suspected products.
“The state government is providing free treatment to the infected persons.
“13 persons have been arrested in connection with the circulation of the suspected products.
“The index is a six-year old girl who developed abdominal pain, was vomiting and had jaundice and urine with blood (hematuria) after drinking water bought from a vendor.
“The vendor was said to have sourced the water from a borehole at a cemetery in the metropolis.
“The assumption involves instant drink flavour powder and a variety of salt for industrial use (caustic powder).
“Water, blood and different instant drink flavour powder samples have been taken for tests to pin down a diagnosis, ranging from food-borne disease, food poisoning, Lassa Fever, Yellow Fever, Dengue Fever, Chemical poisoning to Toxix Hepatitis.”