NMA CHAIRMAN: Don't Drink Garri With Cold Water

Residents of Port Harcourt have been advised to stop drinking
garri soaked in cold water for now, because rats that carry the
highly contagious Lassa fever virus also like exposed dry garri.
Dr. Furo Green, the Chairman of Rivers State branch of Nigerian
Medical Association, NBA, gave this medical advice, while
speaking on the Lassa Fever scourge in Port Harcourt, the Rivers
State Capital.He said

“Because you are not sure which garri has been infected by rats,
its advisable to stay away. When you want to sip garri, you only
pour cold water, add sugar and milk as the case may be.
“When you do that you only succeed in gulping a life virus that
can cause Lassa fever. The virus is empowered easily to attack
you. Rather, garri should be consumed in the traditional way
prepare it well boiled hot water or pour the garri in a pot of
boiling hot water and steer it.”

Dr. Green also advised members of the public to store food in
closed containers to keep rats at bay. “When you buy foodstuffs
like garri, you should pour it into a container that is covered to
avoid the garri from being contaminated infected rats”.

Since the outbreak of Lassa fever disease, three people have died
in Rivers state, claiming the life of a medical doctor with the
state-owned Braithwaite Memorial Specialised Hospital (BMHS),
Livy Ijamala, on Wednesday January 13 night.
The medical doctor was said to have contracted the fever from a
pregnant woman that conducted an emergency Cesarean Section
unknown to him that she was infected.

The death of Ijamala brought to three, the number of persons
who have died from the disease in the state, as a nursing mother
and her two-week-old baby died earlier from the virus.

~PM News