As many as three people have died and 183 others have been hospitalized in Kano after consuming expired fruit juice, ThisDay reports.

The state commissioner for health, Dr Aminu Ibrahim Tsanyawa, said this affected 13 local government areas of the state.

Tsanyawa told reporters on Tuesday in Kano that the incident occurred after the victims consumed expired citric acid powdered drinks, of a brand of Jolly Jus or Fresh.

He said the products batch had expired since about a year ago but were still being sold in the market.

According to him, 284 individuals were affected, of which 101 had been discharged, while 183 are currently receiving treatment.

The state commissioner for health said the ministry’s taskforce have seized expired products worth over 59 million naira.

Also, Dr Bashir Lawan, state epidemiologist in the Ministry of health, explained that “These symptoms are classical of ongoing haemolysis (breakage of red blood cells) and bleeding”.

He also added that the index case was a 6-year old girl seen on 6th March 2021.

“We initially suspected viral haemorrhagic fever but the test results came back from the National Reference Laboratory as negative for Yellow fever and Lassa fever. But we are still awaiting the test of Dengue fever.”

The state government has provided a list of hospitals designated for patients affected to be admitted for treatment.

The hospitals include, Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH), Murtala Muhammad Specialist Hospital, and Infectious Disease Hospital.

Others are Sheikh Jidda Hospital, Waziri Shehu Gidado Hospital, Rano General Hospital and two hospitals in Dawakin Tofa Local Government.

Dr. Bashir Lawal explained that this had spread to eight local governments, including Gwale, Kano Municipal, Dala, Bunkure, Fagge, Gwarzo and Dawakin Tofa.

He also confirmed that a water sample was taken from Dandolo cemetery’s bore-hole for analysis to rule out other potential causes of the outbreak.

He added that they had about three samples of expired powdered mixed -fruit and citric acid powder with NAFDAC for laboratory testing to confirm the link to either expired ingredients or preservatives

He said four additional samples were taken for heavy metals and leptospirosis screening among other technical response activities.

Also, the State Consumer Protection Council has commenced investigation into the circumstances that led to the poisoning which reportedly killed three people and made over ovee a hundred others sick in the state.

A source told THISDAY under condition of anonymity that ” their men are currently conducting shop to shop operation in the market”.

Sources informed reporters that expired products were last month brought into Singer market in the state, as the holy month of Ramadan approaches.