A NEW DEATH ILL RIDING ACROSS NIGERIA AFRICA–AS IT KILLS INFECTED INDIVIDUAL IN 24 HOURS–AS 18 DEATHS COUNTED THUS FAR WITH SYMPTOMS OF HEADACHE, WEIGHT LOSS, BLURRED VISION, LOSS OF CONCIOUSNESS–AS WHO INVESTIGATES

A “mysterious” disease that kills patients within 24 hours has claimed at least 18 lives in a south-eastern Nigerian town, the government says.

“Twenty-three people (were affected) and 18 deaths were recorded,” the Ondo state health commissioner, Dayo Adeyanju, said on Saturday.

The government spokesman for the state, Kayode Akinmade, earlier gave a toll of 17 dead.

“Seventeen people have died of the mysterious disease since it broke out early this week in Ode-Irele town,” Akinmade told AFP by telephone.

The disease, whose symptoms include headache, weight loss, blurred vision and loss of consciousness, killed the victims within a day of falling ill, he said.

Laboratory tests have so far ruled out Ebola or any other virus, Akinmade said.

The World Health Organisation meanwhile said it had information on 14 cases with at least 12 dead.

“Common symptoms were sudden blurred vision, headache, loss of consciousness followed by death, occurring within 24 hours,” WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic told AFP by email, adding that an investigation was ongoing.

http://www.news.com.au/world/africa/mystery-disease-kills-18-people-in-24-hours-in-nigerian-town-ode-irele/story-fnh81gzi-1227310252284