The Director of Public Health, Enugu State, Dr Boniface Okolo has cautioned Nigerians against the consumption of soaked garri.
According to him, this must be done in order to avoid contacting Lassa fever.
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Okolo, who gave the warning in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), on Saturday in Enugu, said the rats that caused the disease were mostly in contact with Nigerian most popular staple food ‘garri,’ a cassava product.
Going further, he said the consumption of Garri must be discouraged. He pointed out that adding hot water would have killed the bacteria causing the disease.
“It is better than the cassava flakes called garri is used for ‘eba’, because of the use of hot water.
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“We in the state health ministry are waging total war against rodents through sensitisation, that is what we are doing to ensure we do not have victim of Lassa fever in the state.
“We are also sensitising the public to ensure that their fruits and raw vegetables are properly washed if they must be consumed raw and cook to the appropriate temperature.
“The best practices for food storage should be encouraged to prevent epidemic.
”We should always make sure that we use air-tight clean plastic containers to preserve our foodstuff to avoid Lassa fever and other diseases,” he said.
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