LAGOS, 16 January 2009 (IRIN) - All of the children who died were under 10 years old and came from Ndiagu-Anagu in the state's Ikwo district, according to Sunday Nwangele, state commissioner for health and the environment.
A parent, who requested anonymity, told IRIN: "My child had diarrhoea and was vomiting and urinating indiscriminately. We rushed him to the clinic but he died before serious treatment was given to him."
Other affected children are currently being treated in health clinics and hospitals in the area, which is 519km east of the commercial capital Lagos.
State officials confirmed the deaths to journalists at a press conference in the state capital, Abakaliki, but did not provide details as to how many more have been affected.
"The children all accessed one water source, which is suspected to be contaminated,” health commissioner Nwangele told IRIN. “It is like a pool on the ground that animals might drink from."
The government's environmental response unit and epidemiology department are looking into the causes of the outbreak.
Contracts were recently awarded to two private companies to rehabilitate some of the state's water infrastructure, but the work is just getting underway, according to Nwangele.
The non-profit organisation Earthwatch says 72 percent of Nigerians do not have access to clean water and diarrhoeal diseases are the second-largest killer of children in the country.
A lack of safe water and adequate sanitation is one of main reasons West Africa's under-five death rate is the highest in the world, according to the UN.
This article is courtesy of www.irinnews.org
