FOR some families and communities in the south-western part of Nigeria, rats are a delicacy. For many, however, the mere sight of the rodents is enough to ruin their day. But for both the eaters and the haters, there is hardly any home or community where you don’t find the ubiquitous creatures in different sizes and despite being different in nature and species, people hardly worry beyond the desire to rid the environment of them all. Well, that was before the advent of Lassa fever, which is said to be caused by a special breed of rat known as the Mastomys natalensis or multimammate and the infection is gradually becoming a yearly problem during the dry season, when this particular breed of rats invades homes and contaminates everything they come in contact with.
Expectedly, there has been an outbreak this year and an index case victim has been identified in Nigeria’s most populous mega city, raising concern and fear among the over 20 million residents of Lagos State.
Lassa fever is now deemed an indigenous disease to Nigeria because of its yearly occurrence and as stakeholders rally to contain it, the campaign against rat eradication has heightened everywhere, considering that the disease, described as a hemorrhagic virus, could afflict without the carriers knowing. At least, eight out of 10 people with the virus have been said not to have shown any symptoms, giving it room to affect their liver, kidneys or spleen, resulting in fatality.
Basically, the disease is transmitted through the urine and droppings of infected carrier rats, which are able to contaminate anything they come in contact with: surfaces, food and water. And they are prolific breeders. A female Mastomys rat can produce between 98 and 156 babies in one year.
The Lassa virus also spreads through human-to-human contact with tissue, blood, body fluids, secretions or excretions. This includes coughing, sneezing, kissing, sexual intercourse and breastfeeding. In hospitals, the disease is spread through contaminated equipment.
People become ill six to 21 days after they are infected. A fever is usually the first symptom, followed by headaches and coughing, nausea and vomiting, diarrhoea, mouth ulcers and swollen lymph glands. Some patients also complain of muscle, abdomen and chest pains. And later, patients’ necks and faces swell and they bleed from their orifices and into their internal organs.
Enter Otumara community
Otumara community in Lagos Mainland Local Government Area is, by all standards, regressive when compared with other communities in the state. Apart from the challenges of lack of basic amenities such as potable water, toilets and a senior school for the community of over 500,000 inhabitants, the water-logged community, which occupies a filthy and unsanitary space is fast becoming a breeding hub for rodents, particularly rats which some residents claim are being used to prepare snack food, thereby fueling the panic of possible outbreak of Lassa fever among residents.
Some of the residents who spoke to Saturday Tribune alleged that rats which exist in large numbers in the Ilaje community are used as an ingredient to prepare ‘rat pie’ which is sold to people for consumption.
A resident who identified himself simply as Azeez claimed that for many years, he had been hearing about ‘rat pie’ being sold in the community but he had yet to see where it is being produced. Advancing reasons for the innovation of ‘rat pie’ as a delicacy, he said rats in Otumara community outnumber human beings with an estimated population of over one million.
This, according to him, explains why the pie makers usually choose them as one of the ingredients for the snack.
“Rats are a common sight in Ilaje community. They are everywhere running around the community day and night. They live with us in our houses, under our beds and in the plumbing pipes. This is caused by the open defecation in the lagoon many of us engage in and the unhygienic environment. One of the leaders in the community erected a wooden toilet on the lagoon where residents in the community pay to defecate. And as you know, rats thrive in unclean environments. They outnumber human beings in this community. Our environment is not clean. If not that we are in dry season but you must have seen how marshy the environment is. There is dirt everywhere. No potable water.
“The wet land does not allow for borehole to be sunk therefore we buy water from our baale to drink, bathe and for other domestic use. There are no toilets and other basic amenities. No secondary school for our children, too. The entire community needs a clean-up to prevent an outbreak of Lassa fever. Just imagine entering your room after a hard day’s work and what stares you in the face is a fat brown rat sitting on your centre table and eating away your meal.”
A community leader who pleaded for anonymity lent weight to the claim made by Azeez and other residents concerning ‘rat pie’. He, however, claimed that he was yet to come across one.
But is ‘rat pie’ truly being prepared and sold in Otumara community? To unravel the truth behind this claim, Saturday Tribune took a walk around the marshy community in search of ‘rat pie’ vendors with the help of a guide, one Ayinde, without whom traversing the community would have been impossible. Apart from the filth and stress of walking the unkempt and unhygienic environment, all buildings appear similar with no sign posts or house addresses to distinguish one from the other.
Saturday Tribune team went from house to house inquiring about how to locate any snack shop around. Eventually, the effort yielded partial fruit as the team located a baker whose husband, Alhaji Afis Olonisakin said is into fish pie and not ‘rat pie’. Saturday Tribune correspondents didn’t have a bite for confirmation.
While denying any knowledge of ‘rat pie’ being prepared and sold in the community, Olonisakin said: “Maybe it is being sold by itinerant snack vendors that visit the community but I doubt if such a thing as ‘rat pie’ exists here in Otumara community. My wife sells fish pie and doughnuts which she prepares by herself. I have never heard of such a thing as ‘rat pie’ and even if it exists, it is definitely brought into the community by some vendors from the outside”.
If the community is home to the special delicacy, then its production is either a well-guarded secret or the location is being well kept out of prying eyes. But so many residents have heard about it, and they say there is no smoke without fire. A more sophisticated surveillance may be required to save countless souls from possibly using their money to purchase what could be the proverbial last meal.
Considering the argument that a well-cooked rat is safe for human consumption, Dr Olatayo Mahmud of the Military Hospital, Ikeja, Lagos, said eating rodents in whatever form is not advisable. According to him, some bacteria and viruses can withstand heat above cooking temperatures.
He said, “Rats are not healthy for human consumption. It is harmful to human health. Aside from this, the cooking may not be thorough and some bacteria and viruses can withstand heat above cooking temperatures.”
‘Why we are afraid’
Lagos is always considered an endangered zone once contagious health crises break out anywhere in the world due to its population and its status as an international gateway for the country. The scenario has been similar for Lassa fever, only that this time, the concern of the residents is more about the activities around them than the likelihood of a visitor importing the disease into their midst.
The confirmation of the case of an infected person has now heightened their worries, due to environmental factors they believe could bring the Lassa rats closer to them. The anxiety is rooted in the heaps of refuse in many streets in the state due to the failure of the Private Sector Partnership (PSP) operators in many areas to resume picking up of refuse.
According to Mr Ugwuoke who lives in the Egbeda, there is the need to be worried because of the high rate of rodents and other reptiles now struggling for space with human beings, unfortunately made possible by the heaps of refuse taking over major streets in the city due to the irregular activities of the PSP operators. For Ugwuoke, it will be suicidal for both the federal and the state government not to prevent the spread of the disease to Lagos.
Mrs Shade Saliu, who sells tomatoes and pepper at Shasha, said residents have every reason to be fearful about the spread of the disease to the state. Pointing at a heap of refuse nearby, she lamented how the garbage had remained for seven weeks because the PSP operator assigned to do the evacuation on a weekly basis refused to show up.
Saliu said despite her lack of formal education, she was aware that the presence of smelly refuse attracts dangerous animals like snakes and rodents which find their way to the refuse sites to feed. Saliu maintained that these rodents use the opportunity of the dirty environment created by the abandoned refuse to access homes where they have contact with foodstuffs through which they transfer the Lassa virus to people.
Mr Sanmi Ajileye thanked God that the disease had not got to Lagos. Ajileye, who lives in Bammeke, urged the state government to urgently do something about the heaps of refuse in many parts of the state, including his area, where he claimed that most of the PSP operators assigned to rid the place of refuse failed to carry out the responsibility for up to seven weeks at times.
