A Nigerian Community Where Vitually Everybody Suffers Appendicitis on HWN UPDATE

Appendicitis isn't  a contagious disease, so what could be the reason for a situation where almost nine, out of 10 persons, in a particular community have undergone surgery as a result of the illness?

As unbelievable as it sounds, this is the reality of the people of Agu-Amede, a rural community in the Isiuzo Local Government Area of Enugu State, where an unbelievable discovery was made.

According to their findings, bad roads, lack of potable water, poor power supply, and clustered habitations signals the level of deprivation in  community with little or no government presence could be the reason.

Just as the Jounalist brought the issue of appendicitis up, nine out of them exclaimed they had had the operation!

In fact, many among the youths, whose average age was about 35 years, also said they had undergone surgery for hernia. Some of them said they had had surgery for hernia on multiple occasions.

The youths informed the jounalist that appendicitis and hernia were common among members of the community. They disclosed that several persons have died as a result of the matter.

However, while  it was beyond doubt that appendicitis was prevalent in the community, the cause of the high rate of the ailment among the population was not certain in any case.

Those who spoke with the journalist could not agree on a particular reason for the situation, but from the various responses, it could be deduced that the villagers mostly blamed their travails on bad drinking water, hardship, hard work and farming. Interestingly, some of them also seemed suspicious of the medical practitioners.

Source: WWWN, HWN Africa.