The Director of Public Health, Enugu State, Dr. Boniface Okolo has called on all to stop drinking Gari soakings.
He explained that eating such food can cause Lassa fever.
Okolo, who gave the warning in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), on Saturday in Enugu, said the rats that caused the disease were mostly in contact with African most popular staple food ‘gari,’ a cassava product.
Explaining further, he said;
“It is better than the cassava flakes called gari is used for ‘eba’, because of the use of hot water.
“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.
Gari is a fine to coarse granular flour of varying texture made from cassava tubers. It can be eaten as a snack in cold water on a very hot day, or cooked in hot water.
