By Rafiu Ajakaye
LAGOS
At least 14 people have been confirmed dead in Nigeria's southwestern Ondo State following the outbreak of an unknown disease, Information Commissioner Kayode Akinmade said Friday.
"I can confirm 14 casualties so far," the commissioner said.
"The government is doing everything to prevent the disease from spreading," he told The Anadolu Agency.
Akinmade said blood samples had been taken from the deceased for analysis.
Local medical authorities are now trying to understand the disease, symptoms of which include intense headaches, blurry vision or total blindness, convulsions, and, ultimately, death.
Akinmade ruled out the possibility that the disease was Ebola.
"Our medical experts have said it is not Ebola because the symptoms are quite different," the commissioner said. "This is a disease that kills its victims within 24 hours."
He said disease victims suffered from headaches at the beginning, before losing consciousness and then succumbing to the malady.
Akinmade noted that all disease victims had been involved in exhuming a corpse in Ode Irele, a village in southwestern Ondo, where the epidemic first broke out.
At least 12 people died from Ebola in Nigeria last year, while 18 others contracted the virus.
The outbreak eventually prompted the government to declare a state of national emergency.
