As Lagos curtails the cholera outbreak, investigations by PUNCH Healthwise show that the nation’s commercial city might be experiencing a Lassa fever outbreak as bird sellers battling rodent attacks sell dead chickens to residents. CHIJIOKE IREMEKA reports The use of wooden cages in Lagos bird markets– markets, where live chickens are sold, may become a source of infection for the residents. The traders lament that the use of wooden cages exposes their chickens to daily rodent attacks which in many cases leave some of them with severe injury and others dead.
In the battle for survival and to reduce their losses, our correspondent observed that those chickens killed by rodents are sold by the traders to the residents who cannot afford live chickens at a reduced cost. Also, our correspondent found that several unsuspecting members of the public in the state have been buying and consuming sick and injured chickens without knowing they were attacked by rodents. Further findings showed that the pesky rodents eat the feeds of the chickens leaving their faeces inside their water containers and cages.
Because of the constant invasion of their chickens by rats, the traders told PUNCH Healthwise that they were running their business at a loss while narrating the unending attacks on their chickens by the rodents. Further investigation also revealed that many major bird markets in the state do not have modern facilities which further exposes the chickens to rodent attacks besides exc.