Forty-two-year-old Kabir Adeoye, a resident of Lagos, has been struggling with an unrelenting fever and similar symptoms despite undergoing several rounds of treatment.
Adeoye first thought he had malaria when he began feeling feverish, with chills and sweating, about two weeks ago. After taking antimalarial drugs and travelling briefly to Kano, he expected to recover. But a week later, his symptoms persisted.
“Even after finishing my medication, nothing changed. I began to wonder if the drugs had stopped working,” he told Saturday PUNCH.
In frustration, he switched between different medicines and even combined them, but his condition worsened — his palms and feet burned, and confusion set in. When nothing seemed effective, he decided to try herbal remedies.
That night, things took another turn when he got home to find his wife worried — their two children had also developed fever, cough, and catarrh. They were rushed to the hospital and diagnosed with malaria, which left him baffled.
Kabir said he regularly maintains a clean home and fumigates to ward off mosquitoes. “So how could we all have malaria suddenly?” he asked. Doctors suggested further tests for malaria and flu, and the results only deepened his confusion.
Similarly, another Lagos resident, identified only as Amusan, fell ill in mid-September. What began as a dry throat soon became a nagging, dry cough.
She initially managed it with menthol sweets and throat lozenges, which provided brief relief, but the cough returned stronger. During her annual medical check-up, she learned that a colleague was battling the same thing.
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“We were both coughing badly and even losing our voices. We thought it was a passing infection and decided to get some medication,” she said.
However, the symptoms persisted — cough, catarrh, and cold — forcing her to take days off work. After another doctor’s visit and more drugs, the condition still lingered. A colleague later suggested it could be COVID-19.
“At first, I didn’t want to believe it,” she admitted, “but with reports of new cases abroad, I became worried.” She turned to home remedies — ginger, honey, menthol steam inhalation, and vitamins — which helped, though the cold remains.
Their experiences reflect a wider health concern in Lagos. Across hospitals and health centres, Saturday PUNCH observed increasing crowds of patients — coughing children, masked young adults, and elderly people clutching handkerchiefs.
A nurse at a primary health centre in Oshodi said, “For the past two weeks, we’ve had a constant stream of patients with fever and persistent cough. It feels like the early days of COVID-19 again. The symptoms are worse this time.”
A doctor at LASUTH also confirmed being ill with similar symptoms. “I’ve lost my sense of taste and still feel unwell. It reminds me of 2020,” he said, adding that he plans to get a COVID-19 test soon but is unsure where to find a testing centre.
(PUNCH)
