[eap_ad_1] It has also claimed more lives since the virus hit Nigerian soil through a Liberian health worker, Patrick Sawyer penultimate week, even as death toll from the therapy has kept climbing despite official warning that the rumoured ‘magic solution’ as an antidote, was a hoax. Unconfirmed statistics put the death toll in the three Northern states of Bauchi, Plateau and Benue alone at eight, with scores of people hospitalised, as against the casualty from the virus itself, which is officially put at three so far. Minister of health Onyebuchi Chukwu was blunt in his denial of the salt therapy when he got wind of the rumour, which was initially circulating through text messages and calls as well as the social media. “This is complete lie, total fallacy, wicked rumour,” he noted with alarm, while urging Nigerians to disregard the rumour. But the counsel from the health minister was a little too late; the rumour had already gone viral, so had panic heightened across the country. It had kept many up until the early hours of penultimate Friday. However, as the minister had warned, the consequence of the therapy was fatal. The “magic solution” claimed its first victims in Plateau State, where two people reportedly died from excessive intake of salt, with 20 others hospitalised. Few days on, the therapy Weekly Trust learnt, also claimed three victims in a Bauchi suburb and another in Misau local government area of the state, while a pregnant woman had a miscarriage in Gudun Sayawa, also a Bauchi suburb. It was learnt that 74-year-old Mr. Paul Bigi, drank more than two cups of salt water after a hot bath as directed by his children. “Less than an hour after taking the therapy, non-stop watery stool started and he died at about 7 am the following morning,” a family member confirmed. In Gudun Sayawa, our reporter gathered that one Mr John Ayuba prepared the therapy taking into cognisance his large family, but he did not survive till the next day. “He sent for a bag of salt and turned the content into a drum full of water, which was already on fire preparatory for the therapy. But he died of diarrhoea and vomiting few minutes later,” a family source said. At Bayara General Hospital near the state capital, a nurse told Weekly Trust that one person also died after drinking salted water. She said the patient became hypertensive as a result of much intake of salted water, and that he was already in bad shape before he was brought to the hospital, where he later died. Mrs. Hannatu Kushi was lucky to have survived the therapy, but she lost her unborn child in the process. Mrs Kushi, who is receiving treatment at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital, declined to comment on the development, when approached by the Weekly Trust. Bauchi state government also feigned ignorance of the deaths occasioned by the intake of “magic solution” in the state. Commissioner of health, Dr Abubakar Sani Malami, said: “I was not aware if anybody died as a result of drinking salt and water, but you know anybody that drinks too much salt will definitely get ill.” Like the three states above, two people reportedly died in a private hospital in Makurdi, the Benue State capital, few days after drinking and bathing with salt and water solution. Proprietor of Ushakaa Hospital located behind Civil Service Commission in Makurdi, Dr. Innocent Gbillah, told our correspondent that the two deceased patients were hypertensive and had taken too much salted water. Gbillah stated that the victims, a man and woman, were admitted into his hospital last Saturday from their different locations of North Bank and BNARDA areas of Makurdi respectively, after taking the solution and becoming very ill. He said that his medical team did everything possible to help the victims but to no avail as one of them died on Tuesday at 7pm while the other gave up the ghost at 5am on Wednesday. The director of public health in the ministry of health, Dr. Joseph Kumba, confirmed the deaths. “We got the report at a meeting last Wednesday that two persons died at Ushakaa clinic as a result of drinking and bathing with hot salted water,” Kumba said. However, at the time of this report, our correspondent was yet to establish link with the families of the deceased to narrate their experiences. But, a hypertensive victim, Mrs. Angela Adah, who spoke to Weekly Trust by telephone from Adoka in Otukpo local government area of the state, explained that she has been placed on advanced treatment after intake of the ‘magic solution.’ Adah said that she was awoken from sleep that fateful Thursday night by repeated phone calls from some of her relations, who urged her to drink and bath with the salt solution to prevent Ebola. “I heard about the disease for the first time. I was told to quickly comply with the directive before sunrise the next day or face the consequences,” she added. Based on the urgency of the information, Mrs Adah said she acted without giving a second thought to her health condition and that she has to be placed on close observation, while the dosage of her regular drugs has increased since then. Unlike the states above, there was no confirmed death as a result of the salt therapy in Lagos despite the fact that the virus was first reported in the state. With the continuous spread of EVD, which has claimed four lives, panic and fear continue to rise. However, residents seem to have handled the salt solution with cautious optimism. Mr. Sulaymon Afolabi, a photo-journalist with a Lagos based national newspaper, said he had a bath of hot water mixed with salt but he did not drink the solution. Another resident, Kola Abayomi, said although he got a text message on the solution, he was waiting for a confirmation by the state government, but when that was not forthcoming, he jettisoned the idea altogether. A visit to the Lagos State University of Teaching Hospital and the Orile-Agege General Hospital at Agege showed that there was no complication arising from the salt solution. A health worker with LASUTH said in confidence that the hospital has no such cases. (Weekly Trust)