Community Where Nine Out Of Every 10 Villagers Have Appendicitis

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, an unbelievable discovery by Punch correspondents when they visited the area.

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 soon as the correspondents 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 correspondents 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 correspondent 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.

-Punch reportage but re-written here

Na wah oooh!!