Dr. Joseph Ngbea, who is the Benue Commissioner for Health and Human Services, has confirmed the state government’s immediate shutdown of Vaatia College, located in Makurdi as a result of a strange disease that has left many hospitalized.
In Ngbea’s words, “five students were affected, three of them are at the Benue State University Teaching Hospital, BSUTH. One of them is doing well while two others are at Madonna Hospital Makurdi (a private hospital). You know that Nigeria is in the process of certification of polio free, and we saw that some students were having parasis instead of paralysis. (Not complete paralysis) But they are actually doing well.
“Since there is no paralysis, polio is completely ruled out. So it is called Orepa syndrome, we are trying to look at that, they are being treated for now and there is no diagnosis at the teaching hospital.”