Lagos State Moves to Shut Down Queens College Indefinitely After Death of Two Students

Two students of the renowned school, Queens College, identified as Vivian Osuiniyi and Bithia Itulua who were in Junior Secondary School two and three respectively, have lost their lives due to an ongoing outbreak of water contamination in the school. The Lagos State Government has therefore requested that the school be shut down indefinitely until the water system is fixed.

According to Information Nigeria, 50 of the school’s students were admitted in the sickbay for drinking the school’s water and eating spaghetti. The school has been shut for the past two weeks to enable a health team to conduct adequate investigation into the incident. The state Ministry of Health confirms that the water sources in the school are highly polluted, adding that the school’s food handlers were also culpable after they conducted tests.

The  state Commissioner for Health, Jide Idris, who spoke to newsmen on Thursday, stated that health records from the school’s sickbay indicated that the problem with the schools water supply dated back to January 16, 2017, and that a total of 1,222 pupils presented themselves at the school’s clinic on account of abdominal pain, fever, vomiting and diarrhea.

“Water samples from six sources on the school premises were collected and analysed at the Drug Quality Control Laboratory of the Lagos State Ministry of Health in the Lagos  State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja. Other  water samples from 10 sources were also collected and analysed at the Microbiology Department of LUTH, Idi-Araba. The results from the two laboratories showed high bacterial content in the water samples from the kitchen behind the dining hall and Queen’s Delight, the school’s water factory. The bacteria range from Coliforms, Escherichia Coli, Salmonella, Klebsiella ozoana and Aeromonas hydrophila. Specimens collected from 40 kitchen workers revealed that cysts of Entamoeba histolytica were isolated in the stool of 23 food handlers; Salmonella Paratyphi, the causative agent of Typhoid Fever, was also isolated from three food handlers.All these together imply a common source outbreak, showing repeated or continuous infection from exposure to the infectious agent. Findings from the investigations were consistent with Enteric Fever. The infection was most likely spread through contaminated water sources and infection by food handlers.” Idris said

Another student, who was a victim of the outbreak, spoke to newsmen saying that the school’s only water source was very close to their septic tank.

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“This is the only drinking water that we have. After my friends ate spaghetti and drank the water, they started vomiting and stooling. Two days after I returned home, I felt weak and had a bad headache. I was later admitted at LUTH,” she said.

Some parents are calling for a sanction of the school’s management for failing to prevent the outbreak. Parents are also saying that legal action should be taken against the school as someone must be held accountable for the death of the two students.